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AN ESSA.Y 

UPON THE 

Cixltvire and. IVIaiTLag-e merit 

—OF— 

Forest Trees & Native 

EVERGREENS, 

Exhibiting the vast amount of Timber being Consumed Here, 



I 



THE VARIOUS PROFITS AND 



ADVANTAGES OF FOREST TREE CULTURE 



And Directions for Planting <& Cultivating the same, by 



EEV. aEORGE PINNEY, 



Sturgeon Bay, Wii./^ '■ ' ' ' '^ ^> X 

^ I » ■ ^1 — i-^ •* * — '^ 



GALENA, ILLS. 

PRESS OF D. WILMOT SCOTT, 

1869. 



PREFA-CE. 



Being almost daily in receipt of letters from our numerous customers in all parts of 
the country, asking for information and ligbt upon the culture of Evergreens and Forest 
Trees, — asking the best varieties to plant, the proper season of planting, the management 
and after culture and numerous other questions which it is impossible to answer in detail 
by letter, and at the same time keep up an extensive correspondence scattered over all 
the northern and western States — has induced me to attempt an answer to these questions 
in a brief and yet a plain scientific manner, and publish the whole in a cheap pamphlet. 

So little attention, has as yet been given, to the growth and management of Forest Trees 
in this country, that there is a small stock of experience from which to draw information. 
I have sought for all the experimental knowledge within reach, and have given copious 
extracts from the writings of others upon the subject. No greater boon could be be- 
stowed upon the " great west" than to reduce all horticultural operations to their first 
principles. But there are few persons competent to undertake the task. 

These loud calls for light upon the subject demonstrate that Forest Tree culture is 
receiving much attention throughout the United States. In view of my conscious inabil- 
ity to give the subject that analysis and digest that its importance demands, it is with 
much timidity that I present this little work to the public, with the earnest hope that ere 
long as experience multiplies, and the knowledge of arboriculture increases, a better mind, 
more thoroughly qualified for the task, will produce a work covering the whole ground, 
and letting a light in upon the subject, that shall clearly point the way to unfailing 
success. 

GEORGE PINNEY. 

Sturgeon Bat, Wis., Feb. 15th, 1869. 



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DEMAND FOR TIMBER. 



CHAPTER I. 

No people have equalled the Americans in boldness of enterprise 
and active industry. They have within a very comparatively brief period 
leveled the forests and let in the sim on many millions of acres, built mighty 
cities and formed a powerful and prosperous nation — opened canals, and 
sent railroads coursing through the continent, as mighty arteries through 
which commerce (the life-blood of the nation,) flows. Unfortunately this 
enterprise has not always been sufficiently guided by wisdom. The ne- 
cessity for clearing off" the forests, to make room for agriciilture seemed 
to grow into a propensity for cutting and slashing, regardless of the wants 
of future generations. 

It is my intention in this introductory chapter, to call the attention 
of the coimtry, by a plain and simple presentation of important facts, and 
a few pointed suggestions, to a great impending national danger, beyond 
the power of figures to compute, and beyond the reach of language to ex- 
press. T have reasons to believe that it will be long, perhaps a full centu- 
ry — after our children and our childrens' children liave in turn toiled and 
labored for the boon, before the full results at which we, as a nation, 
ought to aim, will be fully realized by our whole country ; that our pro- 
duction will be equal to our demands for fuel and timber. With the 
present outlook upon the movements of our people and nation, we can see 
these evils increasing upon us with a tenfold rapidity for the next thirty 
years to come. 

The rapid disappearance of our forests, together with the vast 
treeless regions of the west now being opened by the great national rail- 
road, is beginning slowly to excite the serious attention of our people. 

We have noticed, on the vast prairies of Illinois and Iowa, present- 
ing such great inducements to agriculture, with a soil of unyielding fer- 
tility, a climate scarcely second to none on earth, permeated in all direc- 
tions by deep, broad rivers, capable of floating the vast commerce, and 
driving the manufacturer's machinery of a mighty people, with no forests 
to clear off", or stumps to break the furrows, a population dense, prosper- 



4 THE CULTURE OF FORESTk TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

ous and active, flow in like magic, " a nation was born in a day." We 
have also noticed the demand this vast population has made upon our for- 
ests. Houses and barns must be built, fuel must be had. Timber must 
be had for the building of their railroads and the manufacture of their 
agricultural machinery. Our woodlands are taxed to meet their demands, 
and the tax has now become exhausting. What may we expect as the 
results of the mighty torrent of emigration, that will flow along the path 
of the great Pacific railroad, in its march across the vast treeless regions 
of the western half of our great continent. 

Even now, the older portions of our country are drawing their sup- 
plies of lumber from the newer States, Hundreds of millions of feet of 
pine are annually taken, in some instances thousands of miles, from our 
northern lakes and the head waters of the Mississippi, to the Atlantic and 
Gulf States. Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin furnishes the Blackwal- 
nut and many other woods now used in the manufacture of cabinet ware, 
waggons and machinery in the East. We are also exporting our forests 
to foreign countries. We send ofi'our Oak and Pine for the purposes of 
house and ship carpentery. Hundreds of thousands of feet of Blackwal- 
nut is exported for the manufacture of gun-stocks alone. This is all in 
addition to the demands of our Prairie States, which, because of their 
primitive barrenness of timber must be largely in excess ol all other de- 
mands. During the past year ending January 1st, 1869, there were re- 
ceived in Chicago market alone one thousand millions feet of lumber ; 
five hundred and fifty millions shingles; one hundred and fifty millions of 
lath, and one hundred and sixty thousand cords of wood. The average 
yield of pine lands is about ten thousand feet per acre and hard wood 
lands about twenty cords per acre. This would require for the lumber 
one hundred thousand acres, for the shingle fifteen thousand acres, for the 
lath seven thousand acres, and for the wood eight thousand acres; which 
would clear in the aggregate one hundred and thirty thousand acres of 
land of their native forests, to supply Chicago market alone. 

When we consider the vast amounts that flow down the Mississippi 
river and its tributaries and the amount shipped to other lake ports in 
connection with all the foregoing the amount swells beyond comprehen- 
sion. 

"The great State of New York still holds pre-eminence as a lumber 
State ; but twenty years ago it reached its maximum of ability to furnish 
lumber. With the enhanced price of 18G0, as compared with 1850, that 
State produced about one million of dollars less of lumber in 18G0 than in 

i'lSSO; wliilc the State during those ten years increased her population 
783,341, she diminished her supply of lu'mber almost one million of dollars 
each year. Five other States in this Union also diminished their sup- 
plies of lumber during those ten years. Some of the newer States are de- 

•'veloping their lumber interests ; but our whole country (aided by foreign 
nations) is using up the products of their forests very rapidly. 

Speaking of New York, the completion of the new railroad from 

■Saratoga springs northwestward, called the Adirondac railroad, and 
traversing the vast wooded region known as the "John Brown Tract," 
will, a few years hence, bring a groat amount of lumber into market, 
which has hitherto been inaccessible. But it is doubtful whether even 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



this will equal the fimount of tiestruotion which will, in the meantime, take 
place in other sections of the State. The black walnut has almost wholly 
disappeared from the State. The wild cherry and cucuimbfr tree are 
.great strangers, the hard, maple and hickory in some sections are nearly 
gone, while entire counties, formerly heavy with hemlock and pine, can 
with difficulty supply now and then a farmer with a knotty sill for a small 
barn.'" — Starr. 

In this connection we must consider the many millions of fence posts, 
telegraph poles and railroad ties that are taken from our forests. I 
again quote Mr. Starr : 

Between 1850 and 1860 there was built in the United States 22,204 
miles of new railroads. New timber was required for all these. But 
for nearly 8,589 miles of previously existing roads there was needed, 
during this period, for the replacement of old timbers, more than the 
amount necessary for their first construction. So that there was used in 
that time 65,897,020 pieces of timber, costing, at the low average of thir- 
ty-five cents a piece, $2-3,063,957. But, besides all this, there were build- 
ing and not yet brought into use, on January 1, 1862, about 17,827 miles 
of new road, for all of which new sleepers were needed. When it is re- 
membered that these sleepers are generally sound hemlock, chestnut, and 
especially oak ; that trees are selected to make them of a size just suffi- 
cient to furnish one or two sleepers only, (the tree being simply hewn on 
two sides, and having the heart entire",) the destruction of choice timber 
just approaching a size suitable for sawing is immense. 

When all this consumption is considered, the amount of land an- 
nually cleared, for lumber, timber and fuel, swells to two or three millions 
of acres. 

The average annual increase for the last ton years has been about 
twenty-five per cent. At this rate of increase five or six millions of acres 
will be cleared during the year 1872. With this drain, how long will 
our timber lands last? 

In considering the destruction of our forests, we must not forget the 
vast amounts annually cleared and the timber burned by the farmers. 

From 1850 to 1860 over 80,000,000 acres of land in all parts of the 
Union were brought into cultivation ; of which it is estimated three- 
fourths was timber land, making 60,000,n00 acres cleared by farmers, in 
ten years, or 6,000,000 acres a year; on an average, this rate of clearing is 
no less now than then. With all this array of facts and figures, it is no 
exageration to say that the amount of forest destroyed during the last 
year was between eight and ten million of acres. 

It is quite certain that the one-half of this generation cannot pass 
away before our forests will be so far consumed as to materially affect the 
prosperity of the country. 

The northei-n parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and the John Brown or 
Adirondac region is now all the heavy timber districts we have left ; and 
at the present increasing rate of consumption, fifteen years will not elapse 
before this supply will be exhausted. During ray residence of five or six 
years in northern Wisconsin I can observe this havoc in all the wood- 
lands of my acquaintance. One-half of the valuable timber standing five 
years ago are now swept away. In all the sections remote from a mar- 



6 THE CULTURE OP FOREST TREKS AND EVERGREENS. 

ket and where logs and lumber and firewood cannot be readily exported, 
however excellent the timber, the trees are slashed down and burned at 
once, or killed by girdling, and left to stand until overthrown by their 
own weight or the storms, and are then consumed by fire. 

The same results are witnessed in all our timbered regions. Our 
forests are fading like the morning dew. The land thus stripped is 
usually permanently aleviated from timber growing. All arable lands 
once cleared of tbeir timber are never again allowed to be overrun with 
forests. In fact, destructive man, so utterly robs and impoverishes the 
land of timber that he destroys the beauty of the landscape, and out- 
side the fence of his " wood-lot" leaves no shade for man or beast. In 
their haste to get their lands under cultivation, they girdle and burn vast 
tracts of the most beautiful forests, while they could, with the greatest 
advantage to the crops, and the general health and beauty of the country 
have left fine belts of timber from two to eight rods wide on one or two 
sides of every field. So thoughtless and reckless have men been in clear- 
ing up their farms, that they have not even exercised the forethought to 
select the knoll, and save the forest, where they build their residences ; 
but the spot is bared and wealth builds a large and costly house, and the 
old farmer, gray with age and worn with toil, begins just at the door of 
the grave, to enjoy the " meagre artificial shade prepared with long toil 
and heavy expense." 

We ought in this matter, to be as willing to be profited by the his- 
tory of other nations as in anything else. We study the history of the 
world, to gain the wisdom we need to conduct our national afiiiirs ; why 
not profit by the fearful record the world's history presents respecting 
the destruction of the forests. " Palestine and Syria, Egypt and Italy, 
F'rance and Spain, have seen some of their most populous regions turned 
into a forsaken wilderness, their most fertile lands into arid, sandy 
deserts." Our beloved land, is fast hastening in the same track ; and un- 
less some immediate, well concerted action is had, thirty years more 
will find destruction at our gates. 

I quote from Hon. G. P. Marsh : 

" There are parts of Asia Minor, of northern Africa, of Greece, and 
even of Alpine Europe, where the operation of causes set in action by 
man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete 
as that of the moon; and though, within that brief space of time men call 
the " historical period," they are known to have been covered with luxu- 
riant woods, verdant pastures, and fertile meadows, they are now too far 
deteriorated to be reclaimable by man ; nor can they become again fitted 
for human use except through great geological changes, or other mysteri- 
ous influences or agencies of which we have no present knowledge, and 
over which we have no prospective control. 

" The earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant, 
and another era of equal human crime and human improvidence, and of 
like duration with that through which traces of that crime and improvi- 
dence extend, would reduce it to such a condition of impoverished pro- 
ductiveness, of shattered surface, of climatic excess, as to threaten the 
deprivation, barbarism, and, perhaps, even extinction of the species. 

" The destructive changes occasioned by the agency of man upon 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



the flanks of the Alps, the Appenines, the Pyrenees, and other niountain 
ranges in central and southern Europe, and the progress of physical de- 
terioration, have become so rapid that, in some localities, a single gen- 
eration HAS WITNESSED THE BEGINNING AND THE END of the melaucholy 

revolution. 

" It is certain that a desolation like that which has overwhelmed 
many once beautiful and fertile regions of Europe, awaits un important 
part of the territory of the United States, unless prompt measures are 
taken to check the action of destructive causes already in operation. It 
is in vain to expect that legislation can do anything effectual to arrest the 
progress of the evil, except so far as the State is still the proprietor of ex- 
tensive forests. Both Clave and Dunoyer agree that the preservation of 
the forests in France is practicable only by their transfer to the state, 
which alone can protect them and secure their proper treatment. It is 
much to be feared that even this measure would be inadequate to save the 
forests of our American Union. 

THE GREAT ADVANCE IN PRICE OF LUMBER AND TIMBER. 

The price of lumber, timber and wood is rapidly advancing. 
"Among the things which are most fundamental to a nation's material 
grovi'th and prosperity, we name these four — cheap bread, cheap houses, 
cheap fuel and cheap transportation for passengers and freight." The 
destruction of our forests is interfering largely with the whole of these 
four elements ; but more particularly with the cheap houses, cheap fuel 
and cheap transportation. The present high price of lumber hinders the 
erection of dwellings. A poor man now is obliged to continue in his old 
log hut, laboring years longer to obtain his lumber for a house than he 
did ten years ago to build one equally commodious and comfortable. 
Years of his hfe arc simply thrown away just to meet the evils being en- 
tailed upon us by this wholesale slaughter of our forests. Tens of thous- 
ands are thus discouraged from ever becoming freeholders. The growth 
of our cities is retarded by it. Substantial and costly residences 
would spring up instead of the small uncomfortable tenements, which, by 
their uncouth appearance, and liability to fire, may be almost considered 
a nuisance in our large cities. The expensiveness of building compels the 
landlord to charge higher rents, which aids to " grind the face of the 
poor." 

In any region, hamlet, or city where fuel is dear, the want interferes 
with business and mars the happiness of its occupants. 

The consumption of fuel in all our large cities far exceeds the pro- 
duction of the immediate neighborhood; it must, therefore, be brought 
from a distance, and the transportation, usually far in excess of the first 
cost, more than doubles its value. This increases the expense of every 
class in community; but it is more especially felt by the industrious poor. 
It diminishes their happiness by forcing upon them imperfect cooking, 
exposure to cold and damp and consumes so larife a portion of their earn- 
ings that they are in a measure held back from purchasing comfortable 
clothing and securing for their families a home and education. 

High rates of transportation result from the increased cost of build- 
ing vessels and steamboats and building and equiping railroads. The 
material for ships and steamboats now cost fully double the expense a 



8 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AKD EVERGREENS. 

few years since. The increased cost of ties in laying the track, and of 
lumber used in the superstructure of a railroad, for its depots, and for the 
cars has added much to the capital upon which they must make divi- 
dends, or the bonds upon which to pay interest; and the enhanced value 
of fuel also increases the expense of running the road. And this expense 
is rapidly increasing and these evils are becoming more and more pun- 
gent. Manufacturing establishments are not erected in hundreds of 
places where they otherwise would be, were it not for the high price of 
fuel for the engines and lumber and material to use. All these interfere 
A^ery materially and palpably with the prosperity of the country. 

"A nation which produces the raw material for every species of 
manufactures and commerce, and that at low cost — whose people provide 
their own houses and raise all they consume — which can move its people, 
its products and manufactures quickly and cheaply, is in a condition to 
establish the most complete division of labor, and to give to every man 
the results of his ability, energy and skill. 

Such a nation must prosper. Its people will save and accumulate 
immense sums from their respective earnings." 

If the present onslaught upon our forests continues, and we know it 
must, the foregoing evils and burdens will become insupportable. 

What expedient, then, shall we resort to for procuring the materials 
for fencing and farm building ? Where shall we obtain timber for the 
construction of agricultural implements, for ships and steamboats, for 
bridges, railroads and machinery, and tlie fuel necessary to keep all in 
motion ? — to say notliing of the three or four thousans^ cords of wood now 
consumed in the dwellings in every township throughout the settled por- 
tions of the (country. This question must be tnet during the next ten 
years, by the planting and growth of forest trees all over the country. 
The timber of the new plantation will be needed quite as soon as suffi- 
cient growth can be attained. 

Horticulturists, nurserymen," and many other strong, intelligent 
minds are urging upon the country the importance of planting trees. 
This advice is being heeded in some degree. Public sentiment is be- 
ginning slowly to awake on this important subject. 

There should be at least one hundred millions of forest trees planted 
annually upon the prairies of the west. 

CHAPTER II. 

THE BENEFITS THAT WILL RESULT FROM AN EXTENSIVE PLANTING OP FOR- 
EST TREES. 1st — Direct iiicoine from the timber grown. 

THE BESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS. 

I have no accounts of any extensive and long continued experiments 
on the western prairies. 

The best experimental knowledge we possess is that furnished by 
Levi Bartlett of New Hampshire. 

His experience was in New Hampshire. We must remember, that 
trees upon the warm rich soil of the prairies will make a much more rapid 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



growth. S. Edwards, of LaMoille, 111., furnishes us with an example of a 
White Willow from a cutting, planted on thebankof asodfence on the prai- 
rie, growing to three feet in diameter in sixteen years, of Poplars growing 
IS feetliigh and 4 inches in diameter in two years from the cutting, and of 
White Pine making a growth of four feet in a single year. 

Mr. Bartlett's experience extends over a period of fifty years, upon 
a tract that had been cleared of the timber and thoroughly burned over 
in a very dry time about the year 1800. It was immediately seeded with 
White and Norway Pines. In about twenty-five years Mr. B. came in 
possession of the tract. 

He immediately thinned out the growth on about two acres, re- 
moving over one-half the number of the smallest sized trees; the fuel much 
more "than paying the expense of clearing off. From that time nothing 
more was done with the lot for the next twenty-five years, having sold 
the lot during that time ; he found, however, upon examining the lot twen- 
ty-five years later, that by a careful estimate the lot thinned was worth 
at least 33 per cent, more per acre than the portion left to itself. He sold 
the land at ten dollars per acre and it would at that time readily bring 
one hundred dollars per acre ; he thinks that had the land been judicious- 
ly thinned out yearly, enough would have been obtained to have paid the 
taxes and interest on the purchase above the cost of cutting and draw- 
ing out, besides bringing the whole tract up to the value of the two acres 
thinned out. 

At the time Mr. B. thinned out the two acres (twenty-five years 
from the seed,) he took a few of the longest, about eight inches on the 
stump and forty to fifty feet high and hewed them on one side for rafters 
for a shed. When he visited it twenty-five years later, (about fifty years 
from the seed), he with the owner estimated that had the trees been 
equidistant apart over the two aci*es, thinned out, they would stand at the 
distance of six to eight feet. They were mostly Norway pine, ten to 
twenty inches in diameter and eighty to one hundred feet high. He 
was greatly surprised, upon visiting the lot seven years later at the great- 
ly increased growth of the trees, especially of the two acres thinned out 
thirty years before. Mr. Bartlett's own words are : "The owner had 
done nothing to it except occasionally cutting out a few dead trees for 
top poling walls. It was the opinion of both of us that the portion thinned 
out is now worth twice as much per acre as the part not thinned — not, 
however, that there is tAvice the amount of wood on the thinned portion, 
but from the extra size and length of the trees, and their enhanced value 
for boards, logs and timber. There are hundreds of Norway and white 
pine trees that could be hewn or sawed into square timber from forty to 
fifty feet in length, suitable for the frames of large houses, barns and other 
buildings. There are some dead standing trees among those which were 
thinned, but they are wholly the smallest sized ones that have been over- 
grown and shaded by the larger trees. On the part of the lot left to na- 
ture's thinning out, there are a vastly greater number of dead trees ; many 
of them have fallen, and are now lying on the ground, and are nearly 
worthless. Of the dead trees standing, cords might be cut ; they are 
well dried, and would make capital fuel. I scolded the owner for suffer- 



10 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

ing such a waste of fire-wood. The trees are now about fifty-five years 
from the seed." 

According to the preceding statement, Norway pine trees grew in 
fifty years from the seed eighty to one hundred feet high and ten to twen- 
ty inches diameter, and standing six to eight feet apart each way. 
Allowing the trees to stand eight feet each way, and to average 
twelve inches in diameter, eighty feet high, there would be three 
HUNDRED AND FIFTY CORDS OF WOOD PER ACRE, there being six hundred 
trees to the acre, and every two trees making one and one-fourth cords 
wood. This estimate is doubtless too high, but Mr. B. could not be so 
wild as to make its extravagance very great. A very liberal reduction 
on his estimate, at his last visit, (about fifty-five years from the seed) there 
would be six hundred trees per acre large enough to cut four twelve feet 
logs each, 12 inches in diameter, would give one hundred and fifty 
THOUSAND feet LUMBER ; reducc this estimate by one-third, and v/e have 
one hundred thousand feet lumber per acre in fifty-five years from the 
seed, and enough timber taken off annually to pay the interest on the in- 
vestment, taxes and all other expenses of taking care of the woodland. If 
the above are not over estimated by more than one hundred per cent, it 
would then show big in favor of forest culture. 

The ordinary yield of our timbered lands, growing in a state of na- 
ture uncared for is about twenty-five to thirty cord of woods and ten to 
twenty thousand feet of lumber." In these instances the growth of the 
timber has had to take its natural course with all the disadvantages of be- 
ing too thin in some places, too thick and crowded in others, and with 
old and young promiscuously mixed together; and it is not at all unlikely 
that with the best management, whole tracts of woodlands might be reared 
to yield many times the amount found in the native forests, and that the 
estimates just made may not exceed probability. 

In 1848, R. S. Fay, of Massachusetts, started a plantation of soft 
maple, Norway maple, rock or sugar maple, pin oak, overcup white 
oak, American white elm, chestnut, birch, Scotch larch, Norway 
spruce, Austrian pine, Scotch fir and white pine. The trees were most- 
ly about three feet high. There was no cultivation of the soil where 
the trees stood and the only attention the trees received was a judicious 
thinning out; after fourteen years growth they were measured four feet 
from the ground and measured as follows : Silver maple, thirteen to fif- 
teen inches diameter ; Norway maple, eight to 11 inches ; rock or sugar 
maples, seven to nine inches ; pin oak, ten inches ; overcup white oak, 
seven inches ; white oak, six inches ; American elm, from seed, ten inches ; 
Spanish chestnut, eleven inches ; canoe birch, nine inches ; Scotch larch, 
eight to ten inches; Norway spruce, eight to ten inches ; Austrian pine, 
eight to nine inches ; Scotch fir, eight to nine inches ; white pine, nine to 
ten inches. 

Gov. Halbrook, of Vermont, furnishes the following statement of 
his own observations in relation to the successful growth of young tim- 
ber : 

" Ten years ago I cut the wood off a long stretch of side hill and in 
my inexperience burnt over a portion of it for pasture. The remainder 
was left to grow up again to wood. Many of the young trees are now 



THE CULTURE OP FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 1 1 



six to eight inches through ; they are all very straight and thrifty. I 
vahie one acre of this land more than five acres which are in pasture. I 
shall not again permanently clean up my steep hillsides.'^ 

" At the solicitation of a railroad friend a short time since I accom- 
panied him into the country to examine and estimate the value of some 
wood lots. I was forcibly struck with the amount of rugged, barren 
land, inaccessible for agricultural purposes, which had been thrown into 
open country, even by the present owners. Had a second growth of wood 
been permitted to run up on the land, instead of subjecting it to the 
burning and cropping process, it would have been now worth far more to 
the owners, for a railroad is tapping that country with its large and clam- 
orous demands for wood and timber. Riding along with vn old inhabi- 
tant of one of the towns visited, he pointed out a wood-lot which was cut 
over twenty years since and suffered to grow up again to wood, contrary 
to the usual custom. It was sold at auction a short time since for $3,400. 
It would not have brought over $800 had it been in pasture from the time 
it was cleared. 

" Warm hill-sides, having an eastern or southern slope, send up a 
second growth of wood with great rapidity. Although they may not event- 
ually support so heavy a growth as strong level land, they will yet produce 
all the wood they are capable of sustaining much sooner. A friend directed 
my attention the other day to a tract ot land with an eastern slope in a neigh- 
boring town which was cleared of an original growth of wood twenty-five 
years ago, and left to itself to produce another growth from the sprout. 
The land, with its present standing wood, was appraised a year or two 
since at $50 an acre. Ten dollars an acre is all that similar land in pas- 
ture in that vicinity has ever been worth. By the application of a little 
arithmetic, then, we find that the increase of this second growth of wood 
has been equal to 16 per cent, interest per annum on the worth of the 
land, without a dollar's expense for the cultivation; that is, $10 at 16 
per cent., simple interest, for 25 years, amounts to $40 ; to which add 
the principal, the worth of the land, and we have $50, the appraised pres- 
ent value per acre. 

Several successful attempts have been made within my observation 
in improving rugged and exhausted lands by planting them out to trees. 
Within sight, while writing, is a knoll that has been completely renovated 
by a plantation of the white locust. It was originally a coarse, worthless 
gravel, barren of herbage of any kind. I remember that the proprietor 
was laughed at by his neighbors for attempting to grow trees on his bar- 
ren gravel. The locust got root, however, and, although their growth 
was slow and feeble, they gradually formed a soil by the annual shedding 
of their leaves; and as the soil became thus strengthened their growth be- 
came more vigorous, new shoots sprang up in all directions from the roots, 
and after awhile clover and other grasses begin to appear on the open 
ground. I have been curious to observe the gradual improvement of this 
land. Last summer I noticed that the grass was very luxuriant, and 
would have yielded at the rate of a ton or more of hay to the acre in the 
open spots. The locust wonderfully endows a poor soil with new energy 
and fertility. It seems to make its demands for nourishment more large- 
ly upon the atmosphere than any other tree, and gains foothold in soils 



12 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREKS AND EVERGREENS. 

absolutely barren of fertiliiy. Then, again, its leaves are small, with very 
rough edges, lying perfectly still where they fall, while those of most 
other trees are blown about by the wind, collecting in hollows or in large 
heaps." 

Governor Halbrook adds the experience of John Lowell. The land 
was a green sward that he thought needed "breakmg up ;" he cultivated 
potatoes upon it two years and then planted it with pine trees from the 
forest about five feet high and a few hard wood trees ; acorns were plant- 
ed in some places. In fourteen years he had a young, beautiful and thrif- 
ty plantation of trees, twenty-five to thirty-five feet high, and the largest, 
which were of pine, twelve inches in diameter. We have several ac- 
counts of the growth of forty cords of wood to the acre in ten years 
growth from the seed — an average of four cords per year. 

Great profits can be realized by those having low swampy bottom 
land, especially if overflown some portion of the year, by planting larch. 
Larch will exceed any other forest tree of equal value for timber in the 
rapidity and value of its growth. 

When taken in its favorite localities no other forest tree will produce 
as much money value in the same length of time as the larch. In rapidi- 
ty of growth it is excelled by but few. Its tall, straight and symmetrical 
trunk is excelled by none. In five years it will attain a height of thirty feet, 
on its favorite moist bottom land, with a deep rich soil, and can be plant- 
ed eight or ten thousand trees to the acre, and after the first five years 
growth ten thousand rails per acre can be taken ofl'and leave one-half the 
timber still standing in rows four feet apart and two feet apart in the 
row. In five or six years more these will have attained a size sufficient 
to allow iwo thousand trees more per acre to be taken out, large enough 
to make ten thousand moi'e rails or to work up into fence posts, small tim- 
ber scantling, stove wood, tfec, &c., and still leave two thousand trees 
standing far enough apart to allow them to attain a size sufficient to work 
into lumber. No other branch of agriculture will yield in fifteen years 
as much value per acre. 

2nd — Their usefulness as screens and windbreaks in winter. 

Large tracts of unbroken country over which the cutting winds ol 
winter sweep fiercely, are injuriously affected in many ways. The snow 
which should form a protecting mantle, is swept off" into drifts, and the 
bare earth subjected to the full action of the hardest frosts, rendered 
doubly powerful by the chilling power of the unbroken winds. Young 
plants of grass and winter grain, after being heaved up by intense freez- 
ing, are beaten about and often actually torn out by the power of the 
wind. The cattle about the farm-yard, unprotected from the wintry 
blasts, stand with " all fours upon a sixpense" shivering in every joint 
and muscle ; stock thus exposed require much more food and care to 
bring them Avell through the winter. The amount of fuel required in 
these sections exposed to the unbroken blasts is much greater than in the 
shelter. The liability of both man and beast to take violent colds, from 
which much suffering and many mortal diseases result, is much greater 
when exposed to these unbroken winds than in sheltered localities. 

A writer in the Prairie Farmer, whose enthusiastic spirit is worthy 
of all praise, excbims : Who can compute the amount of winter grain, 



THE CULTUBB OF FOREST TREKS AND EVERGREENS. 13 



of fruit, of tender shrubs, destroyed by the intensely cold sweeping 
blasts which rave over the prairies of Illinois ? The question comes 
home to all the residents of such districts : Can nothing be done to soften 
the rigor of such sweeping storms '? Yes ; stud these prairies with belts 
and groves, with screens of evergreens and deciduous trees. Plant the 
railroads and highways with rapidly-growing trees, in double or treble 
rows, upon the sides from which drifting snows accumulate, and carefully 
attend to them after planting. The money spent in clearing and keeping 
clear, the tracks during a heavy storm, upon one of the western railroads, 
would have purchased trees or cuttings sufficient to have planted the en- 
tire line of road, which, in four or five years, would have grown to a per- 
fect barrier against accumulating snow-drifts. The benefit arising from 
planting trees would not stop with the saving of money to the corpora- 
tions, and with the saving of life and suffering to the people. The crops 
would be increased in certainty and amount, the health-giving fruits se- 
cured to us, domestic animals made comfortable and thrifty, and the sur- 
face of the country would become beautiful beyond conception. Do not 
forget the lesson the extreme storms of cold should teauh us. Let tree- 
planting go on henceforth with renewed earnestness and care, and anon 
we may laugh at the elements, and point with pride to the wonderful 
transformation the human hand has accomplished. 

Srd — Their benefits to Orchards and Crops during the shimmer and 
growing season. 

The attention of the farmer is more closely given to the protection 
afforded by the forests during the winter, than the summer ; biit experi- 
ence has shown that summer protection to orchards and crops is far 
more important and requisite. 

The destructive blighting which results from the rapid drying of the 
absorbing currents of westerly winds, relieved of all their humidity by 
the condensing power of the snow capped rocky range, and consequent 
sudden depression of temperature. 

My experience in Ohio, my native State, is to the effect that orch- 
ards protected on the northerly sides will be more sure to produce an 
abundant crop of fine fruit. The "old orchard" on my grandfather's farm, 
now over sixty years from the seed, Avas at first protected by a native 
forest on the north, and bore abundantly, after Avhich the forest was cut 
down, and several fruitless years followed. The old wood-lot was al- 
lowed to grow up with a second growth of timber; the "old orchard" 
come again into bearing, and at my last information was yielding an 
abundance of fine fruit. In general, the orchards throughout Ohio do 
not produce fine fruit; while twenty-five or thirty years ago, before the 
forests were so fully swept away, a failure to reap a rich harvest of 
fine fruit was not known. 

The lamented Dr. Peticolis, a devoted pomologist of Ohio, justly 
remarks, without seeming to appreciate the great cause of the failure : 

Out of one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty varieties 
of apple trees in bearing, it is difficult to select six kinds of good mer- 
chantable winter apples, because the product is not perfect, though it 
may be abundant. This imperfection is caused by the never-failing mil- 
dew or scab to which our apples are subject. Although some seasons are 



14 THE CULTURB OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



not quite as bad as others, still one-half or more, as a general rule are un- 
fit for market, and it is really humiliating to think that we who, a few 
years ago boasted of the superiority of our fruit as compared with that 
of our eastern friends, (of western New York,) should now be obliged to 
acknowledge that they surpass us. Now, why is this? Why should 
such a change have taken place ? No such alteration, that I am aware 
of, has taken place in the east; their apples are as fair and as good now 
as they were twenty or thirty years ago. Some of our varieties are less 
prolific than they were fifteen years ago. Rambos then bore, at seven 
years old, ten bushels of good fruit, but since have never borne over four 
or five, even in the most favorable seasons, and these but inferior fruit. 
Redstreaks, the same time and age, bore thirteen bushels, but have never 
in any season since borne more than three or four of comparatively poor 
fruit. Nor can this change be attributed to the age of the tree, for trees 
of nearly all ages, of the same varieties, were nearly as unproductive. 
The white Belleflour was formerly one of the finest and best apples, but 
can no longer be realized as the same, being now so knotty and scabby, 
and producing but one-fourth of its former yield. The White Pearmain 
was another of the best keeping and finest dessert apples, but it no longer 
Is even fit to look at, being perfectly disfigured with the scab. Most of 
the others were in the same condition. 

Our desponding pomologist does not seem to imderstand the real 
evil. 

We are well aware that the American climate, particularly over a 
greater portion of the continent, is especially favorable to the production 
of fruits. Neither can we shut our eyes to the fact, that throughout 
many of the older portions of the country it is now of rare occurrence to 
find an orchard producing fruit not more or less imperfect. Apples are 
disfigured, warty and scabby; pears are cracked, woody and worthless; 
and peach trees are seldom allowed to even come into bearing. Blights, 
so called, are very common. 

We are also cognizant of the fact that in sheltered city gar- 
dens, vegetation commences at an earlier period, and as a consequence, 
fruits ripen earlier and in many instances attain a greater degree of per- 
fection, and are less liable to casualties and diseases than those in the 
open unprotected country. All have heard of the fine butter-pears that 
Isaac Baxter, of Philadelphia, grows yearly upon trees protected by brick 
and mortar. A gardener in the city of Camden, New Jersey, has sur- 
rounded his grounds with a very high board fence, produces pears upon 
his dwarf trees greatly exceeding any raised by his neighbors in their 
exposed localities. Smooth and beautiful fruits grow upon his trees, while 
theirs is knotty, gnarled and worthless, because exposed to the pelting 
northeasters, or the biting and drying winds of the northwest, with its 
keen and eager airs. 

All these circumstances combined, conspire to show conclusively, 
that the failure of fruit may be mainly attributed to the want of shelter. 

These drying winds suck the moisture from everything they come 
in contact with, and this evaporation is increased in a prodigiously rapid 
ratio, with the velocity of the winds ; no doubt but the pear-blight is 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 15 



produced by their sucking the sap from the young and tender leaves, just 
as they are putting forth. 

The debilitating effects of these drying winds in summer is well 
known without really or fully understanding the source of the aridity ; 
but experience shows that timber belts and screens are the most effectual 
and at the same time the most available means of checking these drying 
winds. 

4:th — They tend to produce a greater degree of atmospheric hiimidit't/ 
and consequently a more regular supply of rain. 

There appears to be no room to doubt, that greater dryness of the air 
is a result of the removal of the forests, and that the earth then ceases to 
be equally moist, or the springs to furnish an equal quantity of water. It 
is the experience of ages in various countries that the presence of forests 
really makes the climate comparatively wet and then removal makes it 
dry. It is not conceivable that they do this by absorbing vapor from 
the atmosphere, converting it into water, conveying it to their roots and 
thus furnishing a supply to the ground ; for this would make the atmos- 
phere dryer, but it is known that their presence makes it more moist. If 
forests do increase the moisture of the atmosphere and cause the springs 
to flow more abundantly, it can only be by causing more rain to fall. 
The progressive diminution of water in our streams and ponds is known 
to be closely connected with the removal of our trees. It has also been 
observed that thorough underdraining has, in a great measure, in many 
localities, restored in a great measure, failing springs. The rapid evapo- 
ration from the surface, by the action of the unbroken drying winds has 
in a great measure been checked, by facilitating the gradual descent and 
withdrawal of water from below. 

Underdraining is chiefly applied to lands formerly marshy or wet, 
holding water near the surface, such localities usually being the feeders of 
springs. 

I here present an extract from J. S. Lippencott illustrating the ac- 
tion of forests in production of moisture and rain. 

The increased facilities for drying the soil existing in an open, 
cleared, leA^el, cultivated country, become apparent on comparing the 
amount of water evaporated with the rain-fall at Haddenfield in 1864 and 
1865, and with similar results, determined as correct, from actual meas- 
urements made near the headwaters of Anthony's creek, a tributary of 
Green Brier creek, an aflluent of the Kanawha river. The discharge of 
this creek, of which the area of drainage was carefully surveyed, was 
ascertained, by daily measurements for one year, to amount to 70 per 
cent, of the rain-fall, and 65^ per cent, of the average fall for five consec- 
utive years.* The waters thus hastened off by the sloping mountain sides, 
or sunken among the leaves or into the soil or rocky crevices, and shel- 
tered from evaporation by forests, restore a much larger proportion of the 
rain to the rivers directly. In this section, as generally in an open cham- 
paign country, where dry rain winds prevail and much land is exposed by 
tillage, evaporation may take place to the extent of three-fourths of the 
rain-fall throughout the year, or more than twice that fall for an entire 
summer. Hence the value of forests, as arresters of evaporation, or as 
barriers against the sweep of drying winds, becomes obvious. 



16 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

Many well attested instances of local change of climate and in the 
even and regular suppl}' of rain referred to the influence of forests might 
be cited. We give one other extract taken from the Philadelphia In- 
quirer, May 17, 1866: 

While we write, it is announced in the daily papers that the inhab- 
itants of the Cape Verde islands are again in distress from famine through 
the lack of rain. Having destroyed their forests they suffer terribly from 
periodical droughts. From 1830 to 1833 no rain is said to have fallen, 
and 30,000 {>eoplo perished, or more than one-third of the population. 
Though it has been proposed to replant the forests, such is the ig- 
norance and indolence of the people that little has been done toward res- 
toration. 

That forests do exert a marked influence upon the quantity of rain 
is a fact well understood by meteorologists. 

The action of forests in adding to the rain-fall, appears to be due to 
their offering an obstruction to the free flow of currents loaded with vapor, 
and the upward tendency such obstructions give to the air, by which it 
is piled up and retarded until accumulated at sufliciently high elevations 
to induce condensation into clouds and rain. This is one of the regular 
effects of mountain ridges, and any cause which shall, in like manner, 
force the air to rise in any particular locality may produce a similar re- 
sult. The friction against the surface of the level earth impedes the free 
motion of air or winds, and that which follows tends to pile upon the 
back of that resting on the earth, and that behind to climb still higher. 
If, then, the impediment of a dense forest be added to the obstruction al- 
ready existing to free motion, the ascent of the strata of air will increase 
according to the force of the wind bearing vapor with it. When this 
storm encounters a forest, the resistance must be materially augmented, 
and the retardation of the strata becomes greater, the overlapping and 
ascent of the current increased, more abundant condensation takes place, 
and more rain falls, and the district thus becomes more wet than it would 
have been had the bare ground alone been left to retard the progress of 
the lower portions of the wind. Forests, therefore, cause the surface cur- 
rents to rise higher upon their sides, as up an inclined plane, and to attain 
a great height, thereby affecting a district as would mountains of moder- 
ate elevation. — -IIopJd)i's Meteorological Essays. 

oth — Their effect in ameliorating sudden changes of temperature. 

A slight reference to a few of the well known principles of caloric, 
will open this section very clearly. The heat or warmth upon the earth's 
surface is entirely drawn from the sun. In the conversion of water into 
vapor or steam, a large amount of heat is consumed, or becomes latent; 
in other words the evaporation of water is a cooling process. This is a 
well known fact. The laborer knows that when he sweats profusely, he 
can stand the heat much better, than when he is unable to sweat at all ; 
this is because the evaporation of the sweat cools his heated body. 
Hence any wet body exposed to the sun is less effected by the heat than 
one perfectly dry : this may be illustrated by wetting one hand and hold- 
ing both up to the sun, in a slight current of air, the wet hand will be 
found to grow cold rapidly, while the dry one will feel quite sensibly the 
warmth of the sun. Again, a portion of perfectly dry air will absorb moist- 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 17 

urc, (evaporated water) very rapidly, but as the air becomes more and 
more charg^ed with the moisture it will eva|)orate with less and less facil- 
ity until it ceases to evaporate at all. Clothes, or any wet substance, 
will dry much more rapidly in the wind than in a calm ; and every farmer 
'-"ows how refreshing a breeze is to a man laboring and sweating in a liol 
day. This is because the atmosphere next the body is being changed as 
fast as it becomes saturated with moisture, and a more rapid evaporation 
is the consequence. 

The great cooling process is radiation, which, under the vibratory 
theory is giving off vibrations of heat in every direction from th.e heated 
body. Radiation is caused by a constant tendency for an equilibrium of 
the temperature of all bodies, and also a constant radiation into space. 
The reason" or occasion of this constant radiation into space has 
never been satisfactorily settled among philosophers. It is pretty well 
settled that intense cold reigns supreme in all the vast regions of space 
beyond the atmosphere of the planets; and it may be this tension for an 
equilibrium, that draws radiation into space. The vibrations are sent 
ofi'in straight lines from the heated body, and continue to be given off in 
every direction until every object in their path is heated to a temperature 
equal to the body giving off heat. No body or substance is heated by 
these vibrations except it intercepts or destroy those vibrations. Pure 
dry air does not obstruct radiation sufficiently to become sensibly heated 
by radiation alone ; but air charged with moisture does obstruct this 
radiation and becomes heated ; and the greater the amount of moisture in 
the air the greater the obstruction, and the sooner does it attain the same 
temperature of the radiating substance. 

Another ruling process is conduction or the passage of heat from 
one particle to another of the conducting medium ; but as neither dry or 
moist air are conductors of heat, it is unnecessary to notice it here. The 
air is heated only by the immediate contacts of its particles. As the 
rays of heat from the sun do not heat the atmosphere in their passage, 
through it, it follows that the air is heated only by immediate contact with 
the eai'th ; and, as soon as the particles of air in immediate contact with 
the earth became of equal temperature with the earth, the cooling of the 
earth by conduction would cease, were not these heated particles re- 
moved and other colder particles brought into contact. 

It is well known that the atmosphere becomes lighter as its temper- 
ature increases, hence the warmer particles, if unobstructed, rise and are 
replaced by other colder particles. 

By reference to these few simple principles of philosophy it will be 
seen that there is but one source of heat, on the earth's surface, — the 
sun ; and three great means of counteracting the heating effect of the 
sun, — absorption by vaporization, radiation and conduction. 

In the preceding section we have seen that forests are productive 
of an increased and more regular supply of rain, and that vegetation, es- 
pecially fruits, flourish more vigorously in their vicinity, consequently the 
atmosphere in such locations contains a greater and more regular supply 
of moisture. 

With these well known principles before our eyes it is easy to see 
the powerful influence that forests have upon climate. The vibratory 



18 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

theory has brought to light the facts that rays of heat of low intensity, 
such as are given off by the soil and plants, cannot be radiated, through 
aqueous vapor to any extent — hence the heat of the earth cannot be ra- 
diated or projected toward the sky by night, they being all absorbed by 
the vapor contained in the air. Prof, Tytidall calculates that of the heat 
radiated from the earth's surface warmed by the sun's rays, one tenth at 
least is aVjsorbed by the vapor within ten feet of the surface in ordinary 
moist regions ; he says also : "The removal for a single summer night of 
the aqueous vapor from the atmosphere that covers Englar.d, would be at- 
tended by the destruction of every plant, which a freezing temperature 
would kill. In short, it may be safely predicted that whenever the air is 
dry the daily thermometric range or the difference between the ex- 
tremes of heat and cold, will be very great." 

R. Russell says in the Smithsonian report of 1S54: The influences 
of moisture in tempering the sun's rays is a remarkable fact and well wor- 
thy of further investigation. When the dew-point is high, or the air is 
filled with moisture, radiation from the earth is prevented and the tem- 
perature of the night remains almost as high as that of the day. When 
the dew-point is low, the sun's rays pass without absorption to the earth, 
and impart little of their heat directly to the air. The medium dew- 
points are therefore most favorable to extreme heat in the atmosphere, 
and the greater heat beyond the tropics is probably owing to this cause. 
The fact that the amount of moisture in the air regulates the temperature 
of the nights has not received the attention it deserves. 

Ti*avelers in all parts of the world tell us of the connection between 
dry air and extreme heat by day and cold at night. On the desert of 
Sahara where "the soil is fire and the wind is flame," it is very cold at 
night, sometimes forming ice. While on the contrary beneath the trop- 
ics of America, where there is the most dense and luxuriant forests the 
world affords, the temperature of the day and the night remain nearly 
uniform, seldom rising above 80^ or falls below 50 '^ ; while in the tree- 
less and consequently dry regions of the west, Capt. Beckwith says : 
" We observed the greatest contrasts between the heat of the day and of 
the night, in these mountain valleys," (upon the route of the Pacific rail- 
road) from noon to 3 p. m., the thermometer standing at 87 ° to 90 "^ , and 
at night falling below the freezing point. 

Col. Emory, in his reconnoissances of California says : On the 23d 
of October we retired with the thermometer at 70 '^ , and awakened in 
the morning shivering, with the mercury marking 25 "^ , notwithstanding 
our blankets were as dry as if we had slept in a house. 

Daniel, in his Meteorological Essays furnishes us several examples 
right in point, which I quote : 

Mr. Inglis, in his travels through Spain, relates that he was oppressed 
by the hot rays of the sun in the valley of Grenada while the hoar frost \vas 
lying white in the shade. Eastern travelers in the desert often complain 
of the broiling heat of the air during the day, and of its chill temperature 
at night. Beautiful allusions to the same law are also found in scripture, 
where it is related that one of the greatest hardships which Jacob ex- 
perienced while tending the flocks of Laban, was that through the 
" drought by day and the frost by night, sleep departed from his eyes." 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 19 



These conclusions are confirmed by recent travelers in a remarkable man- 
ner. We need no longer doubt the stories of Captains Riley and Pad- 
dock, as told in their once incredible narratives, when they relate thnt ihe 
intense heat of the sun had scorched and blistered their bodies and limbs, 
so that they were covered with sores, * * * while as soon as the 
burning sun had sunk beneath the hori/on, the fresh wind cooled the 
earth, which became even cold before dark, * * * to be followed by 
fierce and chilling blasts of wind. 

The experience of Captain Sabine, made on the coast of Africa, 
show that while the sea breeze was blowing upon his station, the hydiom- 
eter denoted the dew-point to be about 60 - ; but when the wind blew 
strong from the land, it sunk to 37^ ® , the temperature of the air being 
66 ^ . Notwithstanding the heat of the evaporating surface of the Sahara, 
the burning sands of the desert yield so little vapor that there does not 
exist in the winds wafted to the coast, and which constitute the true 
harmattan, a greater force of vapor than that which rests upon the Polar 
seas , for at both places the constituent temperature of the vapor, or the 
point of deposition, is below 32 "^ . The sea breeze above referred to con- 
tained eighty per cent, of relative humidity, the land breeze from the Sa- 
hara less than twenty per cent, of the same. 

These sudden changes of temperature are a great evil and can only 
be remedied by an extensive and systematic planting of forest trees. 

Not that forests increase or diminish the mean temperature. Mr. 
Becauerel has made in the Jardin des Plantes, with a sensitive thermom- 
eter, certain observations at different hours of the day, by comparison of 
which it was found that about 3 p. m., when the temperature is highest, 
the difference sometimes amounted to 2 ° or 3 ° in favor of the atmos- 
phere above the tree, whilst at sunrise, after a clear night, the excess was 
on the other side, on account of the nocturnal radiation. This experi- 
ment proves the cooling of trees and the atmosphere surrounding them 
under the influence of nocturnal radiation. Vegetables near a wood are 
sooner affected by spring frosts and the cold of autumn than vegetables 
at a distance from them. Under the influence of solar radiation above 
the trees, there is a current of warm air ascending during the night, and 
in the morning a current of cold descends to cool the soil. When the sky 
is cloudy these differences of temperatiire are very small. These experi- 
ments of M. Becquerel also prove the correctness of the conclusions of 
Humboldt from the observations upon the temperature observed at thir- 
ty-five stations in North America, extending over 40 ° in longitude, nan\e- 
ly, that the mean annual temperature over this extent of country has not 
been sensibly changed by the great destruction of wood which has taken 
place during the time of the observations. 

Their effect is simply to equalize the temperature. The day time 
is rendered cooler by the continual absorption of the heat of the sun in 
evaporating the increased amount of moisture and the removal of this 
moist air is prevented by the forests acting as windbreaks or screens. 
The rapid cooling at night is prevented by the vapors with which the at- 
mosphere is charged, 

A systematic planting of forest trees, especially evergreens, in dense 
belts, along the westerly and northwesterly sides of the fields and farms. 



20 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



throughout the vast western prairies, will not only affect the climate di- 
rectly as above, but will in a great measure destroy the drying and con- 
sequent cooling effects of the westerly winds, so prevalent, which have 
lost all their moisture in passing the treeless mountainous regions of our 
" Great American Deserts." 

Now, let us ask ourselves what are the causes operating around or 
above us, producing excessive dryness in our atmosphere and in the soil? 
A west or northwest wind is undoubtedly a cause, largely, if not wholly, 
competent to reduce the amount of vapor in the air, and to render it inca- 
pable of preventing the escape of heat absolved by the earth during the 
day. We know that the winds which are flowing towards the northeast 
from the regions of the tropics, part with their moisture in rains and 
showers over the temperate districts. We know that on the Pacific coast 
the prevalence of westerly winds give a great uniformity to the tempera- 
ture, and that most of the rains come from that quarter ; that the cloud- 
bearing winds, by passing up the slopes of ihe Rocky mountains, lose 
their moisture by condensation into clouds and deposition as rain and 
snow, so that as they pans eastward they are dry winds, and must so con- 
tinue over the vast desert region, arid and waste, which extends from the 
mountains on the west to the borders of the Mississippi valley on the east. 
These conclusions seem so well established, that it has been well remarked 
of the northern Atlantic States, says Robert Russell, " So long as the 
westerly winds continue to hlovr in winter, there is no cessation of your 
cold ; and so long as they continue to blow in a broad, regular stream in 
summer, there is no end to your drought." — Smit/isonian Report^ 1854. 

The necessity for this protection is not confined to prairie districts 
alone, but the timbered portion of the country are likewise suffering. 
" We have been reckless in using the gifts of Providence to our fathers. 
We have razed with ruthless hands the forests which were both orna- 
ments of our region and the safeguard from the ravages of drouth and 
cold. The truest wisdom may be learned in the school of nature, and it 
is only as man imitates the plans of the Creator that he can hope to pros- 
per." 

^th — The very make of our country demands extensive Forest Tree 
Planting in the West. 

Upon this point I shall extract largely from Mr. Starr : 

Geographers, by an averaging of the coast and boundary lines of the 
United States, have fixed its geographical centre in the State of Kansas, 
about twenty-five miles west by six miles south of the city of Leaven- 
worth. This is the real centre, though far too much to the west for the 
probable centre of population. The theimometrical observations taken 
for many years at Cantonment, Leavenworth (Avhile that was still " In- 
dian" and then "Nebraska" Territory) showed " that Fort Leavenworth 
was subjected, beyond any other part of the United States where similar 
observations were made, to sudden and extreme changes, both of heat 
and cold, of moisture and drought." (Authority of Major E. D. Ogden, 
U. S. A., 1854.) Since the settlement of Kansas the terrible droughts 
experienced, and the many men who have perished with the cold on the 
))lain8 between Leavenworth and Salt Lake, bear evidence to the truth of 
the observations. 



THE CULTURE OF FORKST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 21 



An entire absence of moisture seems to characterize the prevailing 
westerly winds through nearly all the vast regions west of this centre. 
Mr. Starr goes on to say : 

And this is to be expected in the nature of things. There is no body 
of water in the centre part of the North American continent, west of the 
Mississippi river, which is able to exert any controlling influence upon the 
temperature of all that region. When we go north from Fort Leaven- 
worth five degrees we are in a cold and frozen climate, closed early in the 
tall and locked in frost until late in the spring. Pass five degrees south- 
ward, and you have almost forsaken the region where ice may be said to 
form ; hence this middle ground is wholly controlled by th(! prevailing 
type of the season, interspersed with the sudden and ofttimes violent in- 
terjection of short periods of temperature from the opposite points of the 
compass. Thus the general winter may be mild, without snow, with 
scarcely frost enough to prevent ploughing a single week through the en- 
tire winter, and there may come one, two, or five days, when the ther- 
mometer shall stand anywhere from zero to 26 ^ below zero. On the 
other hand, in a long, cold, snowy winter, a period oi very spring or early 
summer, as regards its bahuliness and comfort, may break in with equal 
suddenness. The same latitude upon either the Atlantic or Pacific coast ' 
is no criterion by which to iudofe of the temperature of the plains. The 
presence of a great ocean, with its broad, open bosom continually expo- 
sing to thebiting air the fresh warm currents of her inmost being, gives a 
stability and produces a control over the temperature which is unknown 
when we reach a point almost two thousand miles from each ocean, and 
one thousand from the Gulf of Mexico. No portion of the world more 
needs the presence of great and numerous forests to preserve an equilib- 
rium of temperature than the central parts of North America, and espe- 
cially upon this latitude, which, as it approaches either ocean, is so admi- 
rable and so much sought for. 

The same causes which produces such instability of temperature 
have an almost equal and direct effect upon the amount of moisture in the 
atmosphere. The depth of the Missouri and Mississippi are insufiicient 
to produce mucli effect upon temperature by their simple, positive pres- 
ence ; the results which are obtained come rather from the processes of 
evaporation. I suppose that were the Missouri river, from its mouth to 
the headwaters of the Yellowstone, to be laid out in a straight line, and 
its tributaries to be laid on each side of it, side by side, that the surface 
of that mighty river would average a mile in width by three thousand in 
length, giving an evaporating surface of 3,000 square miles. When we 
remember that the Missouri river discharges all the water east of the 
Rocky mountains north of the Arkansas headwaters, except what is car- 
ried by the St. Peter's and the Des Moines into the Mississippi, it will be 
seen that a little lake, sixty miles long and fifty wide, is not a large sur- 
face from which to evaporate water in so vast a territory. 

As these westerly winds move eastward, they become again charged 
with moisture drawn from the streariis, and increasing forests and vege- 
tation, together with the great western lakes. 

Having now presented many of the incentives and advantages of 
planting forest trees, we come to the subject of propasatins:: 



22 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

Forest trees can be propas^ated either by plantiiio; the seed, by cut- 
lings, or by transplanting from the native forests. All varieties may, 
with a knowledge of the subject and proper care, be started from the 
seed ; but few, comparatively, can be started from the cuttings. All may 
be successfully transplanted from their native forests. 

All labor and expense of transplanting would be considerable on an 
extensive scale, and as some kinds of trees are difficult to transplant suc- 
cessfully, such, for example as the chestnut, hickory and tulip tree, it has 
been found cheaper and better to plant the seeds where the trees are to 
remain, and in two years remove every alternate plant, and transplant on 
another portion of the plantation, and in three or four years later every 
alternate row. 

But the raising of forest trees, especially evergreens, from the seed, 
is a tedious operation — few but professional nurserymen either know how 
to do it successfully, or are willing to bestow the requisite amount of care 
and attention. 

Starting from cuttings is also an uncertain operation. But few va- 
rieties will start from the cuttings. It is quite impossible to start an 
evergreen, or any variety of tree possessing a resinous sap from the cut- 
ting. 

Transplanting then is the only method of starting a forest tree plan- 
tation worthy of universal commendation. I will, however, devote a few 
pages to propagating from the seed. 

PLANTING SKEP. 

Nature teaches the best lessons in planting seeds of her spontaneous 
productions. In studying the proper condition of the seed, the nature 
and condition of the soil in which to plant, and the time of planting forest 
tree seeds, the best text books are the forests themselves. From them 
we learn that the proper time for planting is just the time nature does her 
planting, and the proper condition of the seed is the exact condition we 
find the seed in when dropped from the tree. The particular time of 
dropping the seed is not so essential as the particular condition of the seed. 
If all other conditions and circumstances are right in every particular the 
time of planting is not important. The condition of the seed is liable to 
change after dropping from the tree; in many instances the original con- 
dition can be restored by artificial means, and in others by the warmth 
and moisture of the soil; while other classes of seeds can never be re- 
stored if allowed once to become dried. There being then so many classes 
of trees, (growing in all kinds of soil and in all climates,) — no two having 
seed the same in all their peculiarities — keeping their seeds at nearly all 
seasons of the year that it would require volumes to give anything like a 
detailed description of the peculiarities and circumstances necessary to 
successfully raising all classes of forest trees from the seed. 

A few practical hints, upon a few of the leading varieties, is all I 
will venture here. I shall not confine myself to classes found in northern 
Wisconsin, but will refer to nearly all varieties adapted to forest culture 
on the prairies. Deciduous trees (those that shed their foliage in the fall) 
being more easily propagated from the seeds than evergreens, will be first 
noticed. 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 23 



The elm, and silver or soft maple, both being adapted to a moist, 
rich soil — such as usually make best meadow lands — are usually found 
growing together. The seeds should be gathered and planted as soon as 
ripe, which is very early in the season — (in May or June;) they will grow 
at once, and will make a good growth the first season. If the seed is to 
transported any distance, it must be packed in such a manner as to keej) 
moist. If allowed to dry it will seldom germinate, especially the maple. 
To keep them moist they must be packed in boxes with wet sav/dust, sand 
or moss. The sugar maple, oak, ash, white and red pines, white and 
black walnuts, all mature their seeds much later and will thrive on a 
greater diversity of soils; they will thrive very fair on a lean, sandy soil, 
but much better on a rich clayey loam, and, with the exce|)tion of the 
walnut, will not thrive well upon the same soil, and along with the ehn 
and silver maple. We sometimes see a solitary white pine and oak grow- 
ing here and there (of gigantic size) in a forest of elm and maple. In such 
cases they are the "monarchs of the forest." White pine and white oak 
will thrive exceedingly well on a low, damp, (not water soaked) soil, (such 
as is adapted to a silver maple and elm) if once well started, but there is 
usually great difficult}' in getting them started, as a hard freeze in winter, 
when water stands on the ground is sure to kill the young plants, but 
when once sufficiently rooted, too deep for the frosts, they make very- 
rapid hardy growth. This is evidenced by their growing so scattering 
and to such dimensions, whether growing alone or in connection with 
other classes of trees, in such locations. But few of the young plants 
succeedins: in withstanding the freezintj ordeal. Asjjain the erround must 
drain out, deep enough, so the roots will not find water "standing'" in the 
soil. Planters had always best select high and dry land for the above 
trees. 

There are varieties, however, that will thrive best in very wet soils. 
Larch, birch, balsam, fir, arborvitte, and spruce, for instance, will germi- 
nate very quickly, in very wet ground, and will grow very rapidly, espe- 
cially larch, which will make from four to six or eight feei growth annu- 
ally on rich swamp lands. There are through the West thousands of acres 
of swamp lands, now entirely valueless, which if planted to larch and 
spruce, would soon yield a rich income to the owners. Drying does not 
injure the seeds of the above varieties if sown on very wet, swampy soil. 
All can be transplanted, after the seedlings are well started on uplands, 
and will thrive very well in a rich loam or clay, but seldom do well on sand, 

I have now given a general review of the planting of seeds. I will 
now give some directions more in detail. 

PREPARING THE SOIL AND PLANTING THE SEEDS. 

If the seed is to be planted where it is intended the forest shall ul- 
timately stand and in tillable land, prepare it thoroughly for corn, (and if 
you plant the seed in autumn), with a shovel-plow make furrows about 
four feet apart for the rows, strew the seeds in the bottom of this furrow, 
cover them slightly with old compost, rotted leaves, straw or moss, leav- 
ing the earth to be worked down the sides of the furrow by the freezing 
and thawing during the winter. If you plant in the spring, prepare the 
ground as you would for corn or potatoes, as soon as the frost is out of the 
ground ; plant your seed in hills or drills ; be sure and plant seed enough, 



24 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



SO you will have plenty to thin out and leave the best trees to grow ; cov- 
er the seed slightly with soil afterwards, at the proper season plant corn 
in the spaces between. Nature, almost always, starts her seedlings in 
the shade; the corn will do the shading, and thus prove of great benefit to 
the seedlings ; besides, in cultivating,''the corn and seedlings can be hoed 
together. In any case, whether in fall or spring planting:, the seedlings 
should be shaded for the first two or three years, either by planting corn, 
or with a covering of lath erected over the rows to protect them from the 
sun. The seedlings should also be hoed, (the soil kept loose and free 
from weeds,) and the plants properly cared for during the first two or 
three years, to allow them to get a good vigorous start. After the first 
year the ground shouhl be mulched Vith rotated sawdust, old compost, or 
any substance that will keep the sun and di-y winds from the soil. (Mulch- 
ing is of jfdvantage the first year, taking care not to choke or obstruct the 
growth of the young seedlings.) A continued cultivation for a few years 
will give the trees sufficient size as to require no further attention ; their 
shade, with the mulching of the leaves they shed, will keep the soil in 
good condition. 

It should be remembered that the seeds of forest trees sprout very 
early in the spring ; and in such soils as cannot be worked the moment the 
frost disappears from the ground, it is necessary to perform the planting 
in the fall. 

This method of planting (where the forest is intended to stand) is 
not usually practicable with any varieties except those growing naturally 
on dry land, and having large, coarse seeds — such as walnut, chestnut, 
oak, hickory, &c. But the maples, birches, elm, larch, and all classes of 
evergreens, have such small seeds and their seedlings are so minute as to 
render this method of planting unsafe. I may add, however, that maple 
and elm may be successfully planted on bottom lands, in this manner, 
but in all circumstances it is much better to bed them out. 

Those trees having very small seeds and consequently, very minute 
seedlings shouuld be first started in a bed. The soils best adapted are, 
firs, white and Norway pines, hemlocks, red uedar and birch, a dry sandy 
loam, or clayey loam, and for spruce, arborvitse, fir and larch, a wet san- 
dy, or loamy soil, the wetter the better if not so wet as to absolutely 
drown the young seedlings, and for elm and silver maple, a moist clay 
loam or clay is best. The kind of soil where the tree is found growing 
in the native forest is not always the best soil for them to grow in ; for 
experiment has shown that some kinds (as fir, spruce, and arborvitre) are 
nearly always inhabitants of wet places and swamps, and yet grow more 
rapid when transplanted to the uplands, but their seeds germinate more 
readily and the seedlings get a surer start in the wet swampy places, 
consequently they are seldom met on the uplands. When sowing the seed 
we should select a location as nearly similar to the one occupied in the 
native forest as practicable. 

The soil should be thoroughly worked and pulverized and made in- 
to beds about four feet wide, the same as for sowing onion seed and the 
seeds sown in drills six or eight inches apart. 

They should be covered by sifting fine mould through a riddle, to a 
depth not exceeding one-fourth of an inch, then throw on two or three 



THE CULTURE OF POKEST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 25 



inches of chaff or fine straw or sand. They should be shaded as soon as 
the minute plants make their appearance, and a portion of the straw re- 
moved to give the plants air. This may be done by suspendinglath upon 
poles a foot above the bed. Cotton cloth has been recommended but 
lath are preferable as they can be easily moved along on the poles while 
weeding and cultivating; all weeds should be carefully kept away fiom the 
young plants, and as soon as their size will admit, a slight mulching should 
be applied ; after being thus carefully cultivated for two or three years, 
and having attained asize of eiglit or ten inches, they may be transplanted 
to their ultimate destination, where they wUl require but a year or two 
cultivation and mulching, when they will have attained sufficient size and 
strength to master intruding weeds faithfully and regularly, and will fur- 
nish their own mulching. 

I add a few directions and suggestions from S. Edwards, of La- 
Moille, 111., the pioneer grower of evergreens in his own great Prairie 
State, and now the honored president of the " Noi-thern Illinois Horticul- 
tural Society." He says : 

The ground for seed-beds should be deeply pulverized, and three or 
four inches of the surface should be mostly coni]»osed of sand and wood soil, 
sand predominating. The small varieties of seeds should be barely covered ; 
the largest ones never over half an inch. Beds four feet in width, running- 
east and west, may be covered with strip lath, naile<l one-third of an inch 
apart to cross pieces, placed a foot above the surface, to protect from di- 
rect rays of the sun. 

Boards should be placed along the south side of the beds. A slight 
covering of moss over the beds to maintain moisture is beneficial, but 
should be reiuoved before the plants prick through it, as they are very 
tender and easily broken. Remove the covering at dusk each evening, 
give a slight sprinkling of water, and replace the covering before sun- 
rise. 

"Damping off" at the surface of the ground is the greatest difficul- 
ty to be encountered in raising evergreens from the seed. Whenever 
plants are found thus affected, give the beds a liberal sprinkling of dry 
sand, to be repeated if found necessary; this is an effectual remedy. 

Robert Douglas, Esq., of Waukegan, was, it is believed, the first 
western nurseryman to introduce this mode of culture. 

The first winter leaves two inches in depth are laid among the plants 
for protection. On a small scale, they are readily grown in shallow beds, 
say six inches deep, nearly filled with the sand and wood soil, placed on 
the north side of a hedge or other screen. At two years, or if standing 
thinly in seed-beds, at three years, they should be transplanted to nursery 
rows running north and south, two and a half feet apart, eight inches in 
the row. If land is not underdrained, it should be ploughed in lands some 
thirty feet wide, with desp dead furrows between. 

In two years alternate plants, and two years later alternate rows, 
shoiald be removed. Until planted in their final location, evergreens 
should be root-pruned or transplanted once in two, or, at most, three 
years. This induces tlie putting forth of fibrous feeding roots near the 
body of the ti-ee. 

I also add an extract from J. J. Thomas : 



26 TUK CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

" The seeds of different kinds of trees require very different treat- 
ment, the ehn, for example, matures its seed early in the season, and it 
may be planted at once and grow the same season. The maple, pine, 
oak, chestnut, and nearly all forest trees, do not mature their seed till 
autumn, and they must be planted either then or early in spring, accord- 
ing to circumstances. Those which have a horn^ covering, like the 
chestnut and horse-chestnut, must never be allowed to become dry, be- 
cause the covering is then impervious to moisture and they will not ger- 
minate. 

As soon, therefore, as the ripe seed drops from the tree it should be 
either planted immediately, or "else mixed with some material that will re- 
tain moisture, such as moist sand, or peat or damp moss, and kept in this 
state until planted in spring; or the seeds may be left on the surface of 
the ground, secure Irom the attacks of mice and covered with moss or 
forest leaves. This exposure to the weather will cause them to sprout 
early, and they should therefore be planted as soon as the frost leaves the 
ground. The failure of germination in nuts and other seeds is commonly 
owing to their becoming dry before f)lanting. Frequent alternate sonk- 
ing in winter and exposure to frost, will often restore them ; and they will 
sometimes grow the second year after planting if the drying process has 
not extended too far, but the only certain way for success is to preserve 
a uniform degree of moisture from the moment of the dropping of the seed 
until vegetation commences." He goes on to say: 

Leguminous seeds, the locust for example, do not require the pre- 
caution just mentioned, as they become thoroughly dry on the tree. The 
seeds of the yellow locust, however, [Robinia pseudo-acacia,) will never 
grow if merely planted in the usual way, in their hard and horny state. 
The best mode among planters is to swell them by scalding in the follow- 
ing manner : Pour boiling water into a tin pan containing about a pint 
or a quart of the seed, and allow it to stand several hours in a warm room. 
A part of the seed will then be found to have swollen much in size, and to 
have assumed a lighter color. They may be sep;irated by the hand, or 
by means of a sieve that will just allow the unswollen seeds to pass 
through ; and if now planted will come up freely. The remainder may 
be again repeatedly subjected to the same process until all have been pre- 
pared. 

Seeds of the pines and spruces are mostly quite small, and the young 
plants being miniate and delicate are liable in this country to be destroyed 
by tlie hot sun. The best way, therefore, is to plant them in beds of 
finely pulverized mould, and keep the surface shaded by screens of white 
cloth or of straw matting. The cloth succeeds the best, as it allows the 
free admission of light, but not of the hot rays. After two years' growth 
these seedlings are transplanted into nursery rows, or where they can have 
• more room. Tt sometimes happens that the seeds of evergreens, as well 
as of other trees, when sown spontaneously in the shade of thin woods, 
will come up and grow thickly without any care being given to them ; 
but this mode cannot be relied on, and maybe adopted only to advantage 
where it is found actually to occur by excluding all cattle and other in- 
truders which would destroy thQ young plantation, and subsequently, in 



TlIJi CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 27 



a few years, cutting away the larger growth, so as to give the young trees 
an even chance. 

DEPTH FOR PLANTING SEED. 

The depth should be nearly in accordance with the size of the seed. 
The smallest evergreens, for instance, should not he buried more than 
tlie fourth of an inch. It is usually performed by sifting tine mould 
over them to this depth. The largor })ine seeds may be placed half an 
inch to an inch deep. Maples should not be covered deeper than this, 
while two inches will not be too deep for the chestnut, and even three 
inches for the larger nuts. This depth, however, must be somewhat mod- 
ified by the character of the soil. It heavy and compact, they will bear 
a less depth than in a sandy, porous, or gravelly earth. Seeds planted 
very early in spring should have a shallower covering than later in the 
season, when a greater depth may be needed to secure proper moisture. 
Deep planting is always disadvantageous, as numerous experiments have 
fully shown, but must be resorted to in dry soils, to prevent the greater 
evil of not growing at all. 

Planting seeds late in autumn is better than spring planting, be- 
cause no injury can be done to them by removal or handling after sprout- 
ing has commenced, and the trees usually receive an earlier start. The 
only disadvantages area liability to be destroyed by mice in winter — an 
evil the probability of which must be judged by every planter — and the 
formation of a hard crust by the long settling of the soil, through which 
the young plants cannot readily penetrate. This difficulty is greater on 
heavy than on light soils, and rnay be prevented by sprinkling or sifting 
over the surface before winter sets in a coating of fine manure, pulver- 
ized compost, or leaf-mould, or peat. 

Another mode of starting the seed, especially in regions formerly 
timbered, is by sowing the seed broadcast where the trees are to grow. 
This is usually a very uncertain mode, as the seedlings cannot be subject- 
ed to cultivation and are liable to be overgrown with weeds and grass. 
The most successful method of obtaining a good broadcast growth from 
the seed (except on the wild open prairie) is, to burn over the whole sur- 
face just as the vegetation dies in autumn, before sowing the seed. The 
burning will pretty eifeetually destroy the seeds and roots of every thing 
not wanted, and leave the ground mellow and in prime condition for the 
little seedlings to take ready root and Avhen large enough to move they 
are thinned out, and the seedlings transplante<I in nursery rows or where 
additional tree plantations are desired. In some cases where the seeds 
are sown thus broadcast, the entire growth is moved to form plantations. 
This broadcast soioing of seeds shotdd never be attempted on the unbroken 
prairie. This method of moving the seedlings is attended with consid- 
erable expense, but is really cheaper in the long run than the more hasty 
and superficial practice, of risking the plants on unprepared and unculti- 
vated ground where but little groAvth can be made and many plants die 
of neglect, and leave them uneven and unthrifty plantations of crooked 
trees. Where trees are transplanted to form plantations, it should be 
done in rows where they can receive regular cultivation for a few years. 
The growth which they will make under such treatment, will be many 



28 * THE CULTURE OF FOKEST TREKS AND EVERGREEJfS. 

times greater than mider neglect. It is a well known fact, that young 
peach trees under good cultivation will produce annual shoots three or 
four feet long, while those uncultivated and bound with grass and weeds 
scarcely make as many inches growth. 

It tnay be laid down as a general rule that trees on mellow ground 
and well cultivated will make at least treble growth; or in other words, 
the young trees under good management will make as much growth in 
three years as they would in nine or ten if neglected. When the land is 
valuable, the management which gives the quickest growth and the heavi- 
est return of timber in a given time is the most desirable. 

If the soil is in good condition and is kept well cultivated, the trees 
will not only outstrip those uncultivated, but Avill make a better and more 
valuable growth. In thimiing out the trees, the sickly crooked ones should 
always be removed. If after they are well started, those having a feeble 
crooked form, are cut out in Avinter or early spring, fresh, young and vig- 
orous shoots will almost invariably spring up in their place. On such 
surfaces as do not admit of cultivation, it is very important to set them 
thickly enough at first, to shade the gi'ound, and in a short time the fallen 
leaves will form a mulching that will keep back weeds, and they will also 
protect each other against the eftect of the winds. Young trees, thus 
planted thickly, will usually be found to do well, when isolated trees in 
exppsed situations, will grow but feebly or perish. 

A TEDIOUS BUSINESS. 

Experience in raising forest trees from the seed is so limited and 
there are so many kinds of trees, possessed of so many peculiarities, grow- 
ing in so many different latitudes, and upon such a diversity of soils, that 
there are raa^'y chances against success. Were we as sure of success in 
planting the tree seed as corn, it would be far the cheapest method of obtain- 
ing a timber plantation. A few have been successful in growing some 
''inds of forest trees from the seeds. Others are exclusively engaged in 
raising evergreens from the seed with fair success, and yet they find 
much difficulty, even when making it their study and business. 

Could one go in person to the forest and gatlier the seed as it drops 
from the trees or immediately after falling and carry it but a short dis- 
tance and plant it at once in good condition upon soil similar to that upon 
which the parent tree grows, success would be almost certain ; but there 
are so many chances aginst seed transported long distances. They may 
have sometime been allowed to dry, or in keeping them moist they may 
have been allowed to heat or mildew ; in either case they would be near- 
ly worthless. 

With all the circumstances combined against it I cannot recom- 
mend seed planting in general. A man intending to make raising and 
selling forest tree seedlings a business would doubtless succeed with most 
varieties. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 

The next method of starting a forest tree plantation is by cuttings; 
this may be practiced with some degree of success with most classes of 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 29 

deciduous trees. One can hardly expect to succeed with the cuttings of 
evergreens. 

This metliod of starting trees will be considered but briefly, not be- 
ing universally practicable. 

To be successful in any branch of tree-culture, it is (juite im- 
portant that one should understand the rationale upon whicli his opera- 
tions are founded, and in no brancli of the business does this apj»ly with 
so much force as in the propagation by cuttings. 

There is, however, in this, as in all other branches of forest tree cul- 
ture, much that remains unexplained. We know not why it is that some 
classes start readily from the cuttings while others seemingly of sijnilar 
structure start with the greatest tardiness and difficulty, or not at all. 

We have no knowledge of any thorough or extensive experiments 
ever having been made in this branch of propagating forest trees ; there- 
fore, we are unable to give any lists of classes or varieties that have been 
found to succeed or fail. But a few general hints is all we can venture, 
with a view only of .aiding those who may Avish to try the experiment : 

A cutting is defined as a branch of a tree that is cut oflT and placed 
in a position to form roots of its own, independent of the parent stock, 
and thus become an independent individual plant, possessing all the prop- 
erties and being a living representative of the original from which it was 
taken. 

The proper time or condition of wood-growth, varies much with the 
different classes of trees. Experiment has not yet fully ascertained this 
question. As we know of no appearance or condition of the plant that 
will indicate the special proportionate arrangement of the constituents 
most favorable for the formation of roots from the cuttings. 

As the extension or formation of roots is dependent upon the action 
of the foliage, that condition or stage of wood-growth, Avhich give the 
shoots or cuttings a full supply of the organized matter necessary to a 
ripening of wood growth; in wliich the process of vegetation is still in 
full operation, with but little if any tax upon the roots for nourishment, 
will furnish the best shoots for propagation. In other words, it has been 
found that as a general rule, that cuttings should be taken from those that 
have commenced to mature but still possessed of active and healthy foli- 
age, known as " half-ripened wood," in a state rather to develop, than to 
depend upon the roots. 

After proper cuttings in proper condition have been secured, the 
art of "striking" or starting the roots, consists mainly in preventing the 
atmosphere from drying out the sap of the shoot until roots are formed 
sufficiently to supply the evaporation. For this purpose A'arious expedi- 
ents are resorted to, such as covering the cuttings with boxes with glass 
tops, which prevent the escape of the moisture, but admits the warmth 
and li<?ht of the sun. 

I present an extract from William Sanders, of the Experimental 
Garden at Washington : 

The greatest care is required in the case of young, tender cuttings, 
and the least with those of matured wood. Cuttings of the latter fre- 
quently succeed when planted in the open air without further care or at- 
tention. On the other hand, a young succulent cutting, furnished with 



30 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

one 01' more leaves, must be cavetully guarded against excess of light and 
aridity. Shading from bright sun will bo required to prevent the foliage 
from wilting, and its surrounding atmosphere must be sufficiently moist 
to prevent evaporation from its surfaces. 

The great stimulents of vegetable life are heat, air, light, and moist- 
ure, and in the management of cuttings these agents must be regulated 
with care and precision. 

Under certain conditions, cuttings will grow and produce a few 
leaves without any attempt at the formation of roots, while under different 
circumstances the same kind of cuttings will produce roots without indi- 
cating the slightest symptoms of bud-growth. Heat is the active stimu- 
lant of the vital forces of plants, and when the atmosphere by which they 
are surrounded is of a comparatively higher temperature than the soil in 
which they are placed, the branches are excited before the roots receive 
any impulse. On the contrary, when the soil is warmer than the air, the 
root-forming process will be active, although the branches show no indi- 
cation of growth. Of course neither of these condaions can continue ex- 
clusively for any lengthened period, for without a reciprocal action all 
growth will, in time, cease. These effects are frequently illustrated in 
tree-planting in spring. Towards the latter portion of spring and the early 
part of summer the air is many degrees warmer than the soil ; the heated 
atmosphere excites the buds, and the leaves are developed ; but the re- 
cently disturbed roots in the colder soil have not yet been excited, and 
are not in a state to supply the demands of the foliage, the juices of the 
tree are soon exhausted, and the promised healthy growth is suddenly and 
hopelessly checked. 

The main point of consideration, therefore, in the management of 
cuttings, so far as mere application of heat is concerned, is to stimulate 
into action the processes carried on in the vessels of the cutting inserted 
in the soil while the upward bud-growth is retarded. This is secured by 
heating the soil, and not heating the air. The rule is that cuttings should 
be kept in atmospherical temperature as low as the natur.e of the plant 
will allow, and the soil in which they are inserted should be warmed as 
high as the roots will endure. The more completely these conditions are 
maintained the greater the certainty of success, and with ordinary care 
few failures need occur. 

Trees can be started from the cuttings with a good degree of suc- 
cess, where one has the trees growing from which to take the cuttings, or 
even imported cuttings can be made to "strike," but in either case artifi- 
cial heat in the soil, or "bottom heat" in the soil is quite essential to good 
success with most varieties. I quote again from Mr. Sanders : 

" Bottom heat," as it is termed, or a warming of the soil, may be 
attained by various means. Those whose requirements are extensive, 
usually have a structure specially fitted to the purposes of propagation, 
where the soil is heated by hot water either in i)ipes, or wooden or ce- 
ment tanks. The latter mode is, perhaj)S, the best; but where the quan- 
tity desired is limited to the wants of an ordinary flower garden or green- 
house, no special structure need be necessary. A small hot-bed, with 
frame, will afford considerable convenience ; and those who have a green- 
house may form one of the best propagating shelves by enclosing a portion 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 31 

of the heating channel, whether flue or pipes, at the warmest end, so as 
to form a tight chamber, with the heater passing through it. Usually 
there is a Iroiit shelf in greenhouses over the h.eating apparatus, so that 
by simply enclosing a space below it, an air-chamber will be formed, 
where the heat will collect and warm a bed of sand or soil laid on the shelf. 
For all ordinary purposes this will be found sufticient, and the space can 
be enlarged to suit the wants of the propagator. 



CHAPTER V. 

TRANSPLANTING FROM FOREST. 

By far the most successful and most universally practiced method 
of starting tree plantations is by transjdanting. Millions of trees are an- 
nually springing up over the fertile prairies of the west. The inhabitants 
of the old timber regions are also taking every spring millions of seedlings 
and planting them upon the same ground where recently grew the mighty 
forests, hewn down with ruthless hands and consigned to the flames. 

The great and increasing needs of forests are making their impres- 
sions and millions upon millions of plants move from their native forests 
every yeai". A number of individuals are devoting their entire time and 
attention to starting forest trees from the seed ; but they do not supply a 
tithe of the demand. Indeed, the expense of starting from the seed is so 
much greater than gathering from the native forests, that the forest trees 
are preferred even the many chances against their success not found with 
nursery trees. 

Evergreens, being usually more desirable for timber plantations, 
windbreaks, screens, and yard ornaments, and being more difficult to start 
from the seeds and cuttings are very largely sought in the native forests. 

It is usually conceded that evergreens from the native forests can- 
not be removed and transplanted without much more danger of loss than 
with nursery trees, except in the case of seedlings or very small plants. 

Several years experience in handling and shipping many millions of 
evergreen trees, has taught me that evergreens (when properly handled) 
ca7i be removed from their native soil with nearly the same success as 
from the nursery. A little racy examination of the physiological condi- 
tion and relations of evergreens and other trees^ in connection with the 
directions for handling and planting, will present the subject a little more 
understandingly. 

It is well known that plants feed upon fluids enriched by the ingre- 
dients of the soil, and that their roots possess the mouths that take up 
the food. These mouths are called spongioles ; they consist of lax, 
spongy, cellular, tissues upon the extremities ot the fibres. These spong- 
ioles are extremely delicate in their organization, and a very slight degree 
of violence destroys them. It is scarcely possible to remove the soil from 
the roots without injury, and if removal or transplantation is effected vio- 
lently or carelessly they are in a great measure destroyed. As the tree 
advances in age and growth the food becomes exhausted from the soil im- 



32 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREEN'S. 

mediately about the tree, and the roots stretch tliemselves and reach out 
to the adjoining soil, and send out their spongioles or mouths for more 
food. Hence the greater difficulty of removing large trees ; these spongi- 
oles are upon the extremities of these long roots and are more liable to 
destruction by removal. With a view to preserving these spongioles. 
came the notion of removing, with the tree, a large, clumsy ball of earth. 
This is objectionable, for this reason : the soil in immediate contact with 
the roots has become nearly or quite exhausted, and will prove a damage 
if planted with the tree, as is practiced. The only good of the ball of soil 
is to keep these spongioles moist and uninjured ; any other device accom- 
plishing this end would he preferable. By thoroughly shaking the old 
soil from the roots and taking care to preserve these spongioles moist and 
uninjured until the tree is planted in new, fresh, well prepared soil, suc- 
cess is more likely to attend the removal, as then the spongioles would 
be brought in immediate contact with good fresh soil, well stocked with 
good nutricious food. In many cases where these spongioles have been, 
dried and injured, they are speedily replaced, particularly in deciduous 
trees, provided a slight degree of growth be maintained, as m the case of 
cuttings. Tins is a reason why trees should be transplanted after the 
buds begin to swell. 

Many of the causes of success or failure in transplanting trees, is 
often very little understood. Much has been said and written upon 
this subject ; the whole range of vegetable physiology has been called 
in aid of an explanation of the theory ; with all, it can be proved to depend 
entirely upon the preservation of the spongi|Oles of the roots, and the pre- 
vention of excessive evaporation — the effort for life then in tlic tree is 
the most vigorous and the tirst im|>ulse of nature is to supply new mouths 
with which to feed during the season for growing; this impulse is excited 
by the moisture absorbed by the roots. 

In the spring, these mouths or spongioles, are all open and grasp- 
ing for moisture and nourishment; the foliage is struggling to burst from 
the confinement of the winter ; the sap, which has been lor months dor- 
mant, is struggling to begin again to course its way thi-ough the forest ; 
any condition of the roots that prevents their absorbing moisture, after 
the death of the spongioles, is death to the tree. These spongioles are 
in reality the lower terminus of the pores in the "sap" of the tree, and it 
is through them only that nourishment is taken from the soil, hence the 
moisture absorbed by the roots, after the death of the spongioles does not 
nourish the tree itself, but only excites an effort on ihe part of the roots 
to reopen, the lower terminis of the pores, and thus form new mouths, or 
spongioles, forthe taking of food. This taking of food is only put in op- 
eration during the summer or growing season, hence, all other circumstan- 
ces being equal, the fall is the best time to remove trees, as then they 
have more time for the roots to absorb moisture and excite the reopen- 
ing of the pores, (i. e.,) forming new spongioles, before the growing season 
commences. 

The difficulty in transplantation is augmented very much in propor- 
tion to the size of the tree; the larger trees send iheir roots farther and 
the spongioles are much wider spread, and much more liable to destruc- 
tion. If by any means the spongioles could be preserved unharmed, there 



THK CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AXD EVERGREENS. 33 

would be no reason why large forest trees could not be removed as safely 
as the smallest nursery trees; but their preservation is rendered imprac- 
ticable in proportion to the increasing size of the tree. 

Plants reared in pots are transplanted so much more successfully 
than if taken from the soil, because of the security of the spongiolos from 
injury when the earth is undisturbed. This difficulty of moving large 
trees may be in a measure obviated by cutting with a spade the lai-ger 
roots the year previous to removal. In a healthy plant new clusters of 
fibres with new spongioles are emitted wherever the roots are cut 
through, and the plant is much more easily taken out of the ground, with 
the spongioles uninjured than if the roots terminating with spongioles 
were longer and much more scattered through the soil. In such cases, 
however, the soil about the tree should be kept supplied with an abund- 
ance of nutriment. The occasion of trees sending out these long roots is 
to seek new supplies of food, the nourishuient in the soil being nearly or 
quite exhausted about the trunk ; and preserving the roots but interferes 
with the growth of the tree rather than inducing it to send out new 
fibres. 

This action of the spongioles is kept up by perspiration or 
evaporation from the leaves. The evaporation tending to produce a va- 
cuum, draws the sap from below; hence trees should never be removed 
during the growing season, as during their transit their condition must 
necessarily be very unfavorable for the spongioles to supply the loss by 
evaporation — and the more rapid the evaporation the greater the danger. 
Evergreens can be removed with much less danger during the growing 
season than deciduous trees — their evaporation being so much less copi- 
ous, that with proper care they can be transplanted in almost all months. 
Yet, even evergreens cannot be safely removed in the hottest months in 
the year, because then the action of such spongioles as may be saved in 
the operation would not be sufficient to supply the waste by evaporation. 

Evaporation takes place in plants to an inconceivable degree under 
cei'tain circumstances. It is known, by the experiments of Di". Hales, 
that a sun-flower plant will lose as much as 1 pound 14 ounces by perspi- 
ration in twelve hours ; and that in general, "in equal surfaces and equal 
times, a man would perspire one-fittieth, the plant one hundred and 
sixty-fifth, or as 50 is to 15;" and that taking all things intoaccount, a 
sun-flower perspires seventeen times more than a man. The same most 
accurate observer found that a cabbage perspired in twelve hours 1 pound 
9 ounces; a Paradise stock in a pot, 11 ounces; and a lemon plant 8 
ounces. Guettard states that he found a Cornus mascula perspire twice 
its own weight in a day ; and Mr. Knight has remarked a vine in a hot day 
losing moisture with such rapidity that a glass placed under one of its 
leaves was speedily covered with dew, and in half an hour the perspira- 
tion Avas running oflfthe glass. In damp or wet weather, this evaporation 
is least ; in hot, dry weather, it is greatest. This loss has all to be supplied 
by the moisture introduced into the system b}- the spongioles ; and hence, 
if the spongioles are destroyed, and evaporation takes plnce before they 
can be replaced, a plant must necessarily die. This is the reason why de- 
ciduous trees cannot be transplanted when in leaf; it is difficult to remove 
them without injuring their spongioles, and it is equally difficult to hinder 



34 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

the evaporation by their leaves ; but if they are kept in pots, it matters not 
at what season their removal takes place, because, as their spongioles are 
then uninjured, even excessive evaporation would be made good by their 
action. — John Lindly, M. D. 

I v/ill notice one other peculiarity of evergreens and larches. Na- 
ture has supplied their sap with a large proportion of resinous matter, 
which, on a little inactivity and drying coagulates or thickens and be- 
comes resin, which fills and clogs the pores of the tree, so that nourish- 
ment cannot ascend, and this gum or resin is not soluable in water, and 
can never be induced to resume its original consistency. 

The distinctive peculiarity of nursery trees is the position of these 
spongioles. In nurseries properly conducted, a systena of root pruning 
is practiced and the soil in the immediate vicinity is by proper manures 
and culture constantly kept charged with food for the growing tree and 
a thorough system of root-pruning is pursued, and the spongioles are 
thrown out in great abundance immediately about the stem, and conse- 
quently a less number are destroyed in digging; yet, with improper hand- 
ling allowing these spongioles to dry, there is, particularly in the case of 
evergreens, as much danger of nursery as of native trees. 

From the foregoing it is easily understood what is the proper method 
of digging, handling, packing and planting native evergreens. The fol- 
lowing rules are but corrolaries to the foregoing: 

1st. In digging lift all the roots possible, however wide spreading 
and long they may be. 

2d. Never allow the moisture to dry off the roots. If dug in a 
drying day, they should not be allowed even five minutes exposure to the 
air, but should be immediately covered with wet straw, moss or leaves, 
and thus protected until packed or healed in, in moist soil. 

3d. They should be packed in such a way thnt the roots will re- 
main thus moist and preserved from drying and at the same time sup- 
plied with food for their use during transit. To secure this the most ef- 
fectually, the roots should be thoroughly immersed in a puddle of clay or 
adhesive soil, and packed in wet moss, which will supply the requisite 
moisture, and the air as effectually excluded from the roots as while 
growing, and the tops allowed sufficient air to carry off the exhalations of 
the leaves, and thus prevent heat and mould. The boxes should be as 
much as possible exposed to the air, (but not to the sun), they should not 
be packed closely in the holds of vessels or steamboats, as then their 
noxious exhalations cannot escape. 

The following remarks clearly elucidate the three foregoing rules : 

1st. As many as possible of the long roots should be secured to 
secure as large a number as possible of the spongioles which are mainly 
upon the extremities of these long I'oots. 

2d. The moisture should be preserved in order to preserve the 
spongioles uninjured, and more particularly in the case of evergreens, as 
the drying so coagulates and converts the sap into resin, as to effectually 
clog the pores, in the roots especially, where the sap is much more resin- 
ous than in the branches, and completely check the flow of sap upwards. 
This rule is much more important than the first, as if the spongioles are 
nearly all destroyed and the roots kept moist and healthy, they will at 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREKS AND EVERGREENS. 35 

once open out new spongioles, and succeed in withstanding the shock of 
removal, if the season is favoraV>lc an<l they are properly planted in good 
soil, and properly shaded so as to avoid the too great tax upon the spong- 
ioles for furnishing moisture. 

3d. An evergreen is constantly at work when not frozen ; its leaves 
commence their exhalations as soon as the frost is out of them, and it re- 
quires a constant supply of food. Tlie supply required when not actually 
forming new wood is quite small, and may be, in very favorable circum- 
stances, entirely dispensed with for a i'ew days, but never safely. The 
puddling furnishes the medium through which the spongioles can act, and 
the moss furnishes the food and preserves the moisture. When the trees 
are packed in straw, the |.»uddle should be a good rich adhesive soil, as 
the straw furnishes but little if any nourishment. The less the leaves " 
perspire, the less food there is required. There are therefore two reasons 
why the trees should not be exposed to the liot sun either just before or 
at any time after packing. 1st, Because of the danger of diying, and, 
2d, Because of the rapid perspiration thus produced. The light of the 
sun is the great force that causes the resph'ation m plants, and tho 2yerspi- 
?'a<io« is the consequences of the resjyiratlon. By respiration plants in- 
hale carbon from the atmosphere and the perspiration produced, is the 
giving out or exhaling oxygen. Plants shut up, air tight, but ex])osed to 
the sun, as in an air tight glass jar, soon convert all the surrounding at- 
mosphere nito nearly or quite pure oxygen. Heat is produced by combus- 
tion, which is a union of oxygen and carbon ; the tendency to this union is 
quite strong, in the case of pure oxygen. A beautiful illustration of this 
may be made, by placing in an air tight glass jar a growing plant, and 
after a few hours introduce a candle with the blaze blown out but a spark 
left in the wick, when it will instantly ignite and burn with great bril- 
liancy. Now, trees packed in air tight boxes, or stowed closely in air 
tight vessel holds, very soon, convert a large portion of the surrounding 
atmosphere into oxygen, and there is an abundance of carbon in the plants 
themselves with which the oxygen can support a slow combustion which 
develops heat, and as the heat is developed, the combustion is augmented 
even in some cases to the point of actual ignition. I have known a box 
of pine when taken from the hot sun and packed closelv in large bulk, to 
heat in a few hours so that a thermometer introduced through a crevice 
in the box showed 155 degrees. 

As the roots do not perspire, (give out oxygen) and their natural 
condition is not in the air — therefore, they should be as effectually exclu- 
ded from the air as when standing. These very particular conditions re- 
quired by the tops and roots of trees when packed for transportation long 
distances, has been with me a subject of much thought and many experi- 
ments. 

The planter can easily determine whether his evergreens have been 
injured by drying, by sim|)ly taking a knife and cutting the roots a little. 
If they a|)pear dark or gummy under the l^ark, better throw them away 
at once than to be to any more expense with them, as they have under- 
gone the drying process, which is death to them. 

We have now followed the evergreen from its native soil to the 
planter, — noticing its condition and demands in all the different condi. 



36 THE CULTURE OV FQREST TREES AISTD EVERGREENS. 



tions through which it passes, — now, a few words to the planter and we 
leave the subject : 

First, When is the best time to get trees and transplant them. 
The relative advantages of spring and fall planting have given rise to 
many opinions, and it is not strange that a wide difterence in opinion 
should be held on the question. 

It is in many particulars theoretically true that autumn is the best 
time for removing trees, especially evergreens. During the month of Oc- 
tober, the soil averages ten degrees warmer than the atmospliere; this 
f(^rms a kind of natural hot-bed, which encourages tlie formation of new 
fibres and spongioles, in place of those destroyed by removal, and the low 
atmospheric temperature prevents any growth in the branches, which is 
exhausting to the roots. Thus they liave more time for resuscitation, and 
preparing for an unobstructed growth. We cannot, however, believe 
that practically, fall is the best time for planting, as in clayey and heavy 
soils the spongioles may be destroyed through constant saturation and 
soaking, by the water gathering in the hole Avhere the tree is planted; or 
the roots may not get sufficient hold of the soil, that the alternate freezing 
and thawing will not constantly be tearing off and injuring the fibres and 
spongioles. And again on the very bleak and exposed prairies the dry- 
ing westerly winds of early spring, will exhaust the juices of the branches 
and leaves by evaporation when the roots are not in condition, to supply 
tlie loss. We would say then generally, especially on the prairies^ plant 
your trees in spring. 

It would, however, be advisable to procure your trees in the fall, 
but be very sure that they are shipped early enough not to be frozen on 
the route as freezing and thawing suddenly is very liable to twist off and 
destroy the young rootless and spongioles ; but if tliey sliould be received 
in a frozen condition, place them in a cellar or some other situation in 
which the thawing will be very gradual and not exposed to the air. 

Very early spring planting is subject to the same difficulty, (i. e., of 
drying prairie winds) as fall planting. But in case of fall or very early 
spring removal, the trees should be buried, root and branch, with the roots 
furnished with a sufficient supply of nourishment, and there kept until the 
proper time for planting which should be about the time the young shoots 
of growing trees exhibit signs of pushing, never earlier, anytime thereaf- 
ter will do, if other circumstances are favorable. A moist, rainy time 
should be selected for planting. If the trees have been puddled in claj'' 
when packed, the clay should be rinsed off in water made thick with 
good rich soil, which may be done by taking the bundles or single trees, 
by the trunks and "sousing" them several times up and down in prepared 
water ; tliis relieves the spongioles from the fetters of the clay and leaves 
them free to take the food from the soil, plant immediately after rinsing 
as aiiove. If the trees have been puddled in soil in the first place, all that 
will be necessary will be to gently brush out the roots and fibres to their 
natural position before planting, being sure that they are all free to come 
in contact with the new fresh soil. If llie Aveather is dry the soil should 
be wet before planting, taking great care to have plenty of rich fine moist 
soil worked in among the roots, so as to have every fibre and S]iongiole sup- 
plied with food, plant a little deeper than the tree stood in its native 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AXD EVERCRERXR. S"? 



soil, and be sure, foi- the first season, not to let the soil become dry about 
the tree ; mulching is better than watering. 

Having considered the condition and liandhng of tlie trees from the 
forest or nursery to their destination, I will l)riefly call attention to their 
handling while in the hands of tlie planter. Their proper handling here is not 
second to that previously demanded. As soon as received, especially when 
shipped long distances, the boxes should be opened, (but not until a trench 
has been properly prepared,) and the crooks and contortions as far as 
practicable, straightened out of the roots and branches, as fast as tho 
trees are taken out and placed in the trenches, where tho roots should be 
thoroughly covered with good tine earth ; and if the trenches are in a po- 
sition exposed to the hot sun, the wliole should be covered with straw, 
boughs, boards or anything to prevent the too rapid evaporation of tlieir 
juices. As far as practicable they should be kept in this position until a 
rainy time before planting; unless the buds are pushing too rapidly, when 
they should be planted immediately, and the shading mentioned hereaf- 
ter should be placed close upon the trees, if not too large. Great care 
should be taken not to allow the moisture to dry oft* the roots, at any time. 
Nurserymen and others almost universally reccoramend the cutting 
smoothly of all mutilated and bioken roots. I very much doubt the pro- 
priety of this, especially if the tree is planted in good, rich, new soil, and 
more ])articularly with evergreens tlian deciduous trees. Cutting the 
wounded roots only opens afresh the pores to bleeding or the escaping of 
the moisture in the roots. The roots broken and mutilated in digging 
usually have the wounds well covered with the native soil and puddling, 
and if the trees are so handled and packed as to preserve the vitality in- 
tact, the wounds have got a good start toward healing, and the forma- 
tion of new fibres about the wound has already commenced. Then I 
Avould say plant the broken roots just as you find them, taking care not to 
disturb tlie soil and puddling adhering to tl\e broken parts, any more 
than absolutely necessary. If not planted in a rainy, moist time, the soil 
in which they are planted should be thoi'oughly wet, not so as to be muddy 
or water soaked, but so as to furnish at once nourishment to the roots, and 
the drying of the soil should be obviated by a mulching of half rotted chaft" 
or straw. The trees should be set a little deeper than they stood in their 
native soil, and the larger ones^ particularly on the prairies, slightly in- 
clined to windward. 

TIME FOR PLANTING. 

The proper time for removal and transplanting has been a subject 
of much discussion. It seems to be universally claimed that the earlier 
in the spring a tree is planted the better, without reference to the locali- 
ty from which the tree is taken. Now, there can be no greater mistake 
than this. The time of transplanting, with reference to the season, should 
be governed altogether by the season of the locality where the tree is 
wintered. 

We have before seen that the great immediate requisition of the 
tree when transplanted is new fibres, with their spongioles, to receive 
food, and that an immediate supply of moisture may ascend to supply the 
waste by evaporation. We should aim to plant in that season which is 
most favorable to these requirements. This time, with reference to tJte 



38 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 



plant itself^ is just as the buds begin to push ; then the plant is in the 
most vigorous condition ; its powers are all struggling for new life ; its 
pores are expanding, and its juices ai'e becoming thinned and flow more 
readily, and the drying winds have a less free access to tlie juices of the 
plant — the new foliage not yet liaving put out, and the old all gone, or 
in the case of evergreens has ceased to draw sap from the stem. At this 
time the tree is ready to commence its growth at once. No tree can be 
safely handled and transplanted after the new growth is fairly under way ; 
the evaporation will invariably destroy the new tender growth, and the 
old buds having all pushed, and no nQw ones having formed, the chances 
for starting again are very limited. The season of the locality where 
planted is another veru important consideration. 

The imiversal direction is " Let spring planting be done early'''' 
without any other conditions whatever. 

We have seen that plants draw their nourishment through the 
spongioles, and that warmth and moisture in the soil are necessary to this. 
The warmer the sod, the more readily will the fibres reach out and the 
more rapidly will the spongioles take up nourishment. 

It is also well known that the air in early spring is much dryer than 
after vegetation has well started, and also that the air is much warmer 
than the soil in early spring. By these it is seen that "early spring" is 
NOT always the best time to transplant. A little later in the season, the 
soil has become nearly as warm as the atmosphere, and is in the best 
condition to nourish the plant, while the atmosphere, being more humid, 
will not so rapidly absorb the moisture of the plant. Really then, we 
should be governed in spring planting, by the condition of the plant, as 
far as practicable. We, here at the north, are constantly pressed with 
loud calls for trees "earlier in the spring;" one says his trees are needed 
for Missouri, Southern Illinois, or Kansas, and the season there is very 
early and the trees are wanted very early. Several years experi- 
ence in shipping trees from a northern latitude, has shown to me two 
facts. 1st. The later trees are shipped from here provided they are sent 
before the buds begin to push, 2d, the farther south the trees go, the 
more sure the success attending them. I think with these facts and 
principles, in connection with a thorough understanding of the principles 
of vegetation, will show to any one that it is much better to come north 
for trees and to avoid any great hurry for them early in the season. There 
are, however, reasons for shipping early in spring ; the atmosphere at that 
time is cooler and less humid and the danger of the trees heating in the 
packages is materially lessened ; but this difficulty is avoided by proper 
skill in packing. 

Daring the month of June, 1867, I pncked and shipped half a mil- 
lion of trees two feet high and less, nearly all going to Illinois, — many to 
the southern part of the State; toward the last many of them were pushed 
several inches. Remarkable good success attended every lot, in some 
cases not over one per cent, was lost. While with those shipped in April 
and May of the same year, with precisely the same packing and the same 
quality of trees in every respect, very many were lost, and in some cases 
a total failure attended them. This was owing, in part, to the very dry- 
ing winds of the early spring, in some cases absorbing all the moisture 



THE CUT-TURK OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 39 



from tlie trees during their transit. That season's business proved an 
incentive for me to study and devise some method of packinij^ wliich 
would avoid the drying trouble and still not be liable to suftocation, heat 
or mould, by too close packing — combiuing the advantages referred to in 
the foregoing part of this. 

The method finally resorted to has stood the test in every instance. 

The method of packing is simply to thoroughly puddle the roots, 
and press them tightly into small frames, the frames clasping the pack- 
ages of trees, about the stems between the roots and tops; filling with 
moss so thoroughly and pressing so tightly, tliat the air cannot pass from 
the top to the roots; ma'-ing the Vjox as nearly as practicable air tight 
about the roots, keeping plenty of moss between the box and roots, leav- 
ing the box about the top all open, with just slats or frame work enough 
about them to give the box the requisite strength, and to protect the 
trees fi'om injury. Packed in this way I have shipped trees many liun- 
dred miles, and in some cases they have suflered three or four weeks de- 
lay, and yet arrive in good condition. 

Shading is very important with young evergreens and more espe- 
cially with forest evergreens. In the case of evergreens with all their 
foliage the evaporating surface is so great, that the exhaustion of the sap 
is too great for the immediate action of the roots, when exposed to the 
direct rays of the sun. 

The tax upon the roots, with so large an evaporating surface, is too 
great for the plant to endure before its roots have got a firm hold of the 
soil. In this respect deciduous trees have a decided advantage over 
evergreens. The amount of nourishment demanded is small at first but 
increases as the foliage increases, giving the roots an opportunity to in- 
crease their ability to supply the nourishment demanded. 

This shading may be done with both as mentioned in chapter third 
for shading the bed in starting the seeds, only the shading should be a 
little more close, and brought down a little closer to the plants, than in 
raising from the seed. The shading is quite diftlcult in the case of large 
trees, four feet and over. I have recommended planters to bind straw 
upon the tree, inclosing the whole foliage, when first received, and re- 
moving a little at a time during the summer. Very good results have 
been realized by this. Much the best way, however, is to box the tree 
about with a tight board box open at the top. Either of the above meth- 
ods is too expensive for large plantations as for screens and timber belts, 
and is practicable only in the planting of a few trees for yard ornament. 

SIZE OF TREES TO PLANT. 

The necessity for shading as above pleads the necessity for planting 
small trees, especially evergreens. But by all means plant small trees 
w^hatever be the kind of tree you are planting ; never order an evergreen 
from a distance, of more than three feet in height. Large deciduous 
trees, such as larch, &c., may be handled much more safely, I would 
not reccomraend the planting of large trees in any case or any variety, 
the opinion of many nurserymen to the contrary notwithstanding. 

The opinions of F. K. Phoenix being so strikingly in point here, that 
I reproduce them from his descriptive catalogue : 



40 THE CULTURE OP FOREST TREKS AN^D EVERGREEXS. 

PLANT YOUNG TREES. 

Ordinary-sized apple trees, (with other fruit trees,) of 3 and 4 years' 
growth are scarce. During the war many nursery stocks declined. 
Shall we plant younger trees noio, or wait one or more years, faring then, 
perhaps, no better, there being a very small supply even of yearlings for 
the vast demand ? 

We advise most decidedly to plant young trees, in orchard and gar- 
dens, and for the following reasons: 

1. — Young trees cost less throughout — at the nursery, in frieght 
charges, and also in handling and planting. 

2. — They are surer to grow, having in proportion to the size of tops, 
vastly more and better small, fine (fibrous) roots. Large trees in moving 
usually lose half or more of their most valuable roots. 

3 — Having less tops and almost perfect roots, the small trees be- 
come established, and grow off vigorously at once. The tops of large 
trees newly planted are often shaken and blown about by the wind until 
they become leaning, and unhealthy even if they survive. 

4. — Making must of their growth on the ground where they are to 
stand, the small trees soon become more stocky and sturdy, every way 
perfectly adapted to the soil and location, as well as the preferences of 
their owner. Setting young trees the planter can fashion both bodies and 
tops exactly to suit his fancy. 

5. — "Setting such young trees will we not lose time ?" you ask. To 
answer truly, I reply, if you give these young trees the first year or two a 
little extra watching and care, to the amount, say, of the difl:erence in 
their cost, you vnll not lose a day, but get thereby a much handsomer 
and more valuable orchard. 

6. — Or if not ready to plant out in the orchard permanently this 
year — or, if about to open in a year or two a new farm as for son or 
daughter, why not plant yearlings or root grafts, growing them yourself 
in the garden with but trifling cost. In the meantime your children can 
study and learn all about them as well as about colts or pigs. Root grafts, 
are set in deep, mellow soil, with dirt firm about roots, dipped, just before 
setting, in "grout," i. e. mud and water, with the top of Graft or Cion, 
two inches or so above surface. 

The most thorough and successful large planters we cannot per- 
suade to buy and plant ordinary or large-sized trees. Even at the same 
price they invariably prefer the I or 2 year trees, knowing that with a 
fair chance, the young, thrifty trees will, in four or five years at most, 
overtake the best planted large trees. It is indeed surprising to witness 
the thrift and vigor of 1 and 2 year trees well planted and cared for, es- 
pecially the first two years after setting. Their cultivation is as simple 
as corn and cabbage. Unless on a s'ule hill where soil washes badly, 
plant only an inch or two deeper than they gi-ow in nursery, as deep 
planting ruins many trees. The first season in the orchard two or three 
short stakes by each tree may be well enough, and then see that the 
ground is properly stirred, the cattle, vermin and weeds kept away. 
Planting a few large trees for immediate bearing and effect, as about 
cities and towns, is a very diftercnt matter. In such cases expense and 
risk are no object. For complete homes, surrounding trees as near per- 



THE CULTURE OP FOUEST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 41 

foct maturity as possible, are imperatively demanded ; hence large sized 
trees are of prime importance. 

The distant dweller on the prairies has neither money nor time to 
tamper with such large trees. Give him the young trees, and with reas- 
onable care he can soon show better specimens than his more ambitious, 
suburban neighbor, besides the money he saves by planting small sizes. 

FORMS AND PLACES OP PLANTING. 

As the great and principle object in planting forest trees is, as it 
should be, to grow trees for timber and fuel, and in such forms as to afford 
protection to the land, that is for screens and windbreaks. U{)on this 
point I quote mainly from J. A. Lapliam's Report to the Wisconsin Leg- 
islature : 

FORMS OF PLANTING. 

Trees in forests and belts designed for timber or protection against 
winds may be variously planted, as they may be designed for different 
purposes, reference also being had to the kind of trees used. Such trees 
as are designed primarily for their fruit, and ultimately for timber, such as 
chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts and hickories, might be planted in squares 
one rod apart, or 160 to the acre, or at 8 feet 3 inches apart each way, thus 
giving four trees to the rod square, or 640 trees to the acre of land. This 
would be a srood distance for maples designed for making sugar; and for 
the coniferte intended to be grown into large trees for timber. This form 
might be secondarily attained from a thicker plantation thinned out. Ap- 
ple trees might be used to make this kind of plantation, which being a 
very fast grower and trimmed high, and after bearing fruit for several 
years, enough to pay a large rent on the land, would become tall trees 
with large trunks of valuable timber, and tops making fuel of an excellent 
quality. 

If the plantation of trees be intended for a tree-belt or forest, such 
a plan must be adopted as will give sufficient space between the rows and 
trees to allow the horse-hoe or cultivator to pass ; then in the vacant 
spaces some low growing crop, like bush beans, dwarf peas, onions, tur- 
nips, beets, carrots and parsnips, might be planted ; remembering all the 
time that these last are but the temporary crop and only planted, not for 
themselves, but to assist in part paying for the cultivation of the greater 
crop of trees, during the first years of their existence. Tap roots should 
never be grown, after the roots of the trees liave so extended themselves 
as to be endangered in taking up the crop of roots. After that period 
only such crops as produce no roots to be dug should be grown. Such 
crops, without damaging the young trees, would be a real benefit ; as they 
wouhl induce manuring the ground, and secure thorough cultivation of 
the surface. 

For fuel, and small straight timber, the trees might be grown, either 
primarily or secondai'ily, in rows 49|- inches apart, and 8 feet three inches 
in the rows, standing quincuncially. This form places eight trees to the 
rod, while they are almost six feet from each other, and gives 1,280 to 
the acre. Another form of planting for the same purpose would place 
them in the square form, 5r^- feet apart, and would give nine trees to the 



42 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

rod, or 1,440 to the acre. This last form would be more difficult to attain 
as a secondary result, but would be a very good form to use, where other 
crops are grown in the early stages of its growth. 

All these ibrms may be ultimately reached, except the last, by 
planting seeds at 49^ inches between the rows, and at half or one-fourth 
that distance in the row; with the express intention of thiiming them out 
at the proper age, so as to leave the final form required. Different va- 
rieties of trees may also be used which are intended to be cut away, as 
the planter shall deem most profitable for that purpose. For this last 
purpose no species offer uioi-e advantages, than hickories and white oaks 
among deciduous trees, and larches among coniferje. 

Dilferent forms of plantations will suggest themselves to each plan- 
ter accoi-ding to the use lor which he is planting. But however the trees 
maybe [)lautel, they should be induced to shale the ground as soon as 
possible, so as to kill out all other vegetation. In this last, the leaves 
will greatly aid while it mulches and enriches the trees, and aids their 
growth. 

When the land is valuable, as is generally the case in Wisconsin, it 
is obvious that the management, whicli gives the quickest and the heavi- 
est return of timber, will prove the most remunerative and profitable. 
Tiiorougli cultivation gives the greatest and most rapid growth of the 
young trees, making at least once and a halt', and often two-fold difference 
in the first ten years of their existence. This is accomplished best by 
planting the trees in rows, through which the cultivator can be passed, 
thus keeping it clean. This cannot be done by the uncertain mode of 
sowing the seeds broadcast, or setting the trees at random, moreover it 
gives greater evenness to the plantation. 

"WHAT KINDS OF TREES TO PLANT IN TIMBER BELTS. 

On this I also quote largely fronx Mr. Lapham : 

Plant the best Trees. In growing forest trees something besides 
square feet of timber is to be considered. One kind of timber is often worth 
luany times as much as another; thus, a hundred feet of black Avalnut 
or cherry planks, are worth fi"om six to ten dollars, while the same amount 
of pine may be had from two to four dollars ; and i)oplars would not pay 
for cutting; and the fork of a walnut, white oak, or curled maple, for 
vaneering, would be worth a dollar for a square foot. The butt of a 
thrifty growing hickory or white ash, eight feet long and one foot in di- 
ameter, may bring from one to two dollars, while a similar stick of Lom- 
bardy or other poplar would not be worth over fifteen cents. As mere 
futil the' hickory and ash are worth nearly three times as much as the 
jioplar. Yet the valuable tree will occupy no more ground to produce it 
than the almost worthless one, and still give the required size in about 
the same time. This consideration of value should always be kept in 
mind in planting trees. A tree should uot be chosen for planting, simply 
because it is a very rapid grower, nor yet be I'ejeuted because it is of 
moderate growth. The true questions to ask and answer is this, which 
tree will be most valuable at the end of twenty or more years. 

The planter should remember he is planting a tree for its value at 
the end of 25, 50, 100, or even 200 years hence, not for what it may be ia 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AXD EVERGREEN'S. 43 



five or ten years. The man wlio plants the seed may see the tree when 
it is 50 or 60 years old, and may feed on its iVuit at ten years. Let him, 
therefore, plant trees for their value, not merely for their rapid growth. 
Acting on this principle, there would be no hesitancy in choosing between 
a balm-of-gilead and a red cedar, or a river cottonwood and a swamp 
white oak. The valuable tree would be selected, and the almost worth- 
less one rejected. 

Timber is required for various purposes. Men want pine, tulip-tree, 
butternut and basswood to work easy under the plane — white ash, hicko- 
ry and oak for strength and elasticity — hickory, oak, and sugar maple for 
hardness and stiftness — young hickory, white oak, white elm and black 
ash for suppleness— black walnut, cherry, butternut, oak, white ash, chest- 
nut, maple and birch for cabinet Avork— beech for hard compact wood 
which will wear smooth, for plane stocks and other tools — pine, si)ruce, 
larch and oak, for long straight timber, for buildings and shii)S — hickory, 
black ash, and white oak for hoop-poles— tanvirack, larch, express and 
pine for hop-poles, stakes and trellises — cedar, locusts, oak and black ash 
for durable posts for fences, and other purposes— willow, black ash and 
oak, for baskets. They w^ant all for shade, for forest and for fuel. But 
least of all they want the whole family of poplars, notwithstanding they 
are rapid growers. 

CHAPTER VI. 
Special characteristics and value of so:me leading varieties of 

FOREST trees, WITH THE TIME OF RIPENING OP SEED AND PROPER 
TIME FOR PLANTING SEED, SOIL BEST ADAPTED TO GROWTH, &C., OF 
EACH KIND. 

This chapter is composed mainly of extracts from Mr. Laphnm. 
There are some kinds of trees exceedingly valuable for ornament 
and shade, rt'hich are comparatively valueless for fuel or timber. Who 
would ever think of planting silver fir, white elm, balm gilead, or Lombar- 
dy poplar for any other purpose than ornament ? Who would ever think 
of splitting the white elm, with its fibres braided in all directions, _ or of 
using the twisting, curling, springing texture for lumber? But still, the 
elm has its place. For street planting, through village and country, 
nothing equals the Avhite or Aveeping 'elm. It is easily transplanted, 
grows Yasl, towering high its head, reaching in rich lands 80 or 90 feet, is 
long lived and increases^in beautv as it increases in years. Its mnjeslic 
trunk, braced below, with its bracket shaped root buttresses divides into 
branches above which support a leafy dome, bending ofi'in finely diverg- 
ing, gracefully decreasing branches, until they nearly sweep the ground, 
wiWtheir pendant foliage. „ , , 

Probably no tree (the oak excepted) has been more extolled than 
the elm, and no tree better deserves the praise bestowed. Noble, grace- 
ful ornamental, fast growing and useful, Avhy should it not receive the 
praise the homage of the nations who, like Wisconsin, possess it? In 
Europe and the United States, great cities, towns, streets, noblemen's 
and <Tentlemen's country seats, have received names derived trom this 
tree* It is the boasted ornamentation of New Haven, not less Avidely 
known than Yale College. A row of tall elms, a few years ago saved the 
city of Albany from conflagration. We praise the tree, but give it little 



44 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

patronage or protection, cutting down a liundrcd where we plant one, de- 
stroying what ought to be cultivated, not alone for ornament, but for its 
valuable wood, and fine shade and protection. 

All lands which will produce corn and wheat, or good grass, will 
grow some variety of the elm. Trenching upon the borders of the marsh, 
where contending with the black ash, tamarack and alder, overtowering 
the sugar maple, spreading its long limbs over the oaks on the dry ridges, 
or hiding them beneath the pines; it rivals all the trees in the forest in 
the breath of its range. In all these places no trees mount so rapidly, or 
make so much wood in a given period of time. Its wood contends with 
the oak for strength, and the hickory for suppleness, entering into and ab- 
solutely necessary for the manufacture of many implements of industry ; 
and as fuel -when dried and housed, as all fuel ought to be, it takes a high 
rank, between the hickory and maple. 

ROCK EI-M. 

This species differs but little from the preceding white elm. The 
branches are mostly corky ridged, or winged, which render them less 
slender and drooping. The tree grows as rapidly as the white elm^ and 
the wood is tougher and closer grained. This valuable tree is not very 
common, and flourishes in drier land than the white elm. 

In many places the rock elm is the most valuable timber, ranking 
next to the oak in value for ship building. Mr. Bates says of it : 

Hock elm is tough and very flexible ; it has been used in nearly 
every part of vessels' hulls, but is not very durable above water. It may 
be used in the bottoms of vessels, and will there prove as durable as oak, 
though the wood is too easily bruised and split to be well adapted for 
keels. The best quality of timber is of northern production, and in many 
parts of the country it is plentiful. It is used in the navy-yards for gun- 
carriages, and on the lakes for planking and ceiling steamboats and ves- 
sels. 

Rock elm seems to be but very little understood ; indeed^ many nur- 
serymen seem to know nothing of it. 

F. K. Phoenix, the. great western nurseryman at Bloomington, 111., 
writes me : I have been in a brown study about that rock elm — and ha^'e 
written several — I know well an elm in the woods whicli we called, as I 
remember, ' red elm,' that was not white oi- slippery, but have lost track of 
it west. If rock elm were planted extensively, it would prove one of the 
most beautiful and valuable trees for forest tree culture. It rises in its 
native forests 40 to 80 feet without a branch, or scarcely any taper, as 
straight as an arrow, its bark, corky in structure, deeply fluted, and al- 
most white, with bracket-like root buttresses climbing well up the the 
trunk ; its top spreading out not imUke the white elm, but with more erect, 
coarser branches. Its value for timber seems to be but little known — but 
where known, it takes the preference over everything else for plow handles, 
bent work for cutters and buggies, cheese boxes, chair rundles and backs, 
ox-bows, &c., and is second only to hickory for axe-liandles, wagon axel- 
trees, &c., where stout smart timber is wanted, and when dry, is regard- 
ed as fully equal to pignui hickory for fuel, into which it is very easily 
worked, being very straight rifted and easy to split. Rock elm also grows 
well upon almost any soil. Its native place seems to be high and dry 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AXD EVERGREEN'S 45 

land ; growing in some places upon rocks nearly bare of soil, whence its 
name. Its roots, like those of butternut, run so near the sui'tace, that it 
cannot thrive where it stands too thickly oi is crowded with other trees ; 
the young trees and seedlings will soon die outot'a thicket ofunderbrush ; 
yet it is very hardy as against all the changes ofteniperature, and drouths ; 
hence it is more frequently met where the climate is too severe or dry for 
other trees to flourish. 

The seeds of elm, as before noticed, ripen about the middle of June, 
and are immediately scattered by the wind. Tliey can be gathered only 
from the tree, and should be gathered about the time the leaves are fairly 
put forth on the tree, and sown at once, as if they become dry they loose 
their vitality. 

SUGAR MAPLE. 

When usefulness and ornament are combined, whetlier for streets, 
yards, groves or timber belts, all other deciduous trees must yield the palm 
to the old-fashioned sugar maple. It has almost every excellence to recom- 
mend it. It bears removal well ; when young the roots are two or three 
times the weight of the top. It only requires good mellow earth for its 
roots to ramble in, grows fast enough for Young America, is free from 
insects, dons its dense foliage early in the spring and retains its symmet- 
rical egg shape till the frosts of autumn changes it to tlie many shades of 
red and golden, giving it the most brilliant appearance immaginable. 

" The seeds ot sugar maple are broad-winged and ripen in autumn, 
falling from the trees with the leaves, and should be planted soon alter in 
rich mould, an inch deep ; or kept in a cool, dry place, where vitality would 
not be excited until early spring. The seedlings will come up about the 
time the farent tree puts forth its leaves." 

Mr. Lapham says : " This tree which is Avell known in all the states 
north of the 40th parallel, possesses many valuable jjrojierties, one of which 
is its sweet sap, which flows from the tree while the frost is leaving the 
ground, before vegetation begins," and from which large quantities of su- 
gar are yearly manufactured. The yield may be estimated irom eight to 
twenty-five pounds annually. The timber is extensively used in cabinet- 
work, mill-gearing, and naval architecture. When the grains are waivy 
or undulating, it is called curled maple, and when contorted, bird's eye 
maple, according to the form of the undulations. Both these when pol 
ished are of exquisite appearance, and when kept dry are not less durable 
than the oak. 

* * 45- * * * * 

The value of an acre of sugar maple of twenty-five years ])lantation 
may be thus estimated. One hundred and sixty trees one foot in diame- 
ter, will yield ten pounds of sugar each, or 1,600 pounds, at 15 cents, |2.'>0, 
or deductincT three-fourths for lal)or and expenses, leaves $62.50. This 
will be its minimum annual yield for fifty years or more. 

The timber would advantageously increase in quantity until the trees 
were 100 years old ; but would give a profitable yield of timber when the 
trees would average twenty inches, as at that size they would give a cord 
of wood to each tree or 160 cords; and which could not be estimated in 
the tree at much less than $5 per cord ; giving the value of the acre of 
timber at $800. This estimate will not appear high, when it is remem- 



46 TIIK CULTURE OP FOREST TREES AND BVERGREENS. 

bered, that twenty-five feet in length of each tree can be sawed into lum- 
ber, making 300 feet to each tree, or 48,000 feet of sawed lumber, worth 
at present prices |30per thousand, or |1,440 ; and the balance of the trees 
go to the cord wood, giving eighty cords to the acre. The interest on 
the value of the land, the cost of planting and taxes would be paid by the 
trimmings, leaving the land as valuable as when the trees were planted, 
and the sugar and tnnber may be estimated as profit for care and fore- 
thought. 

Its superior excellence for fuel, together with its value as hard, 
strong timber for all purposes where firmness and strength are required, 
together with its many qualities as an ornament, render it the most desir 
able of all deciduous trees for general planting. 

LARCH. 

Mr. Lapham says: The larch is a conifers, though the leaves are 
deciduous, in autumn. It is a tall, slender grower, with heavy, coarse- 
grained, durable and valuable wood, wherever light, straight timber, such 
as hoop-poles, is required. The trees should be cut in the winter, and 
the bark stripi)ed off in the spring. Unless this be done the poles wdl 
soon decay from retaining moisture under the bark. It is also a valuable 
wood for fuel, but burns rapidly, and with great heat, being much used 
for puddling iron, and in other places where a hot flame is required. It 
grows naturally on low, wet, even swampy grounds, in all the northern 
states and Canadas ; yet it flourishes far better when brought out and 
planted in dryish soil. When the American larch is planted on such land 
and tended the same as the European or Scotch larch, it grows much 
more rapidly than in its native swamps. Those who desire to make plan- 
tations of the larch, should take into consideration the character of the 
land to be planted ; if it be wet, then the American larch should be chosen. 
The large trees can be sawed into good boards, plank and other sawed 
timbers, or be hewed into large building timbers, for which purposes it is 
eminently adapted. The larch makes excellent piles for docks, or for the 
foundation of buildings in wet grounds. That it will last for ages we have 
abundant proof. Larch piles have been taken up where it is positively 
known that they have been driven more than a thousand years, and yet 
they were sound and uninjured. So too, larch logs have been dug from 
peat bogs "buried 12 to 15 feet deep and where they must have been 
buried before the adamic period, and yet such logs were sufiiciently 
sound to be cut into timber." 

My f^ither in Wrightstown, Wisconsin, three or four miles back 
frouT the Fox river, in digging a well found at the bottom, about 15 feet 
below the surfixce, a tamarack log as sound as the day it fell. The entire 
15 feet above is solid red clay. Several such discoveries have been made 
in that neighborhood at depths ranging from 12 to 20 feet. These facts 
show that larch is very durable, nay, almost indestruetacable. It far ex- 
cells cedar for fence posts, is equally durable, provided the sap be hewn 
off the portion set in the ground, and is far superior for liolding nails. 

Notwithstanding the much that may be said in lavor of the Euro- 
pean larch, we must say with Mr. Bates, that the American larch is 
" every way superior." 

Upon the value of larch I give an extract from Mr. Bates, of Chica- 



THE CUI.TUBK OP FOREST TREES AN1> EVERGREKNS. 47 

gOj ill his paper, upon the ^^ Shij) timber of the United States -y 

'■'■Hackmatack or tamarack is the American larch. It is a very 
important wood to the ship-builder, every way superior to the European 
larch, and is becoming rare in the United States. In the British prov- 
inces it is a flourishing tree, not untVequently found growing on hard and 
dry soil, and of superior quality; but in the United States the hackma- 
tack is confined in its growth principally to the swampy parts of the pine 
<listricts of the northern States. The timber is not large, but well adapt- 
ed to the top and deck framing of vessels. It is also used for ceiling, 
beams, and stanchions : and the roots for knees, breast-hooks, sharf- 
floors, and futtocks are excellent. For lightness, strength, tenacity, and 
durability combined hackmatack is unequalled. It is cheaper in price 
than any other standard timber. Vessels have been built of hackmatack 
in every part. The extreme stiffness of the planks was modulated for 
bending by the use of steam in the customary way, except that a moder- 
ate quantity offish oil was supplied in the boiler for the purposeof aiding 
to soften the wood. 

Hackmatack is more tenacious of spike or square bolt iron fasten- 
ing than most kinds of oak, and weight for weight in the green state, or 
half seasoned, is considerably stiffer and stronger than white oak. This 
is due, no doubt, to the gummy nature of the wood, as well as to the close- 
ness and compactness of its fibre. The sap-wood should be excluded in 
building ; the heart-wood requires no seasoning before use, as the shrink- 
age in weight in seasoning is less than two pounds per (mbic foot. It af- 
fords very good treenails for fastening soft wood planks. 

One of the principal advantages of planting larch, is its adaptation 
to localities valueless for any other purpose. There is throughout the 
■west a vast amount of low lands comparatively valueless for anything else, 
unless it is black ash. River bottoms, and swamp l!?,nds overflowed a 
good part of the year, will produce rapid and valuable growth of larch. 

One of the principle objects in forest tree culture is to obtain tim- 
ber for fences, farm buildings and implements ; for these purposes, with- 
out special reference to ornament, we have seen, when considering the 
growing from the seed— (Chapter III,) that no timber tree yields so val- 
uable a return in so short a time as American larch. 

Arbor vit.e, {white cedar,) grows naturally in swamps and in cool, 
rocky localities. It is frequently seen growing out of the clefts of perpen- 
dicular rocks hundreds of feet from the ground with its roots cropping 
out of the crevises and reaching far down for soil and nutriment. In this 
vicinity (northern Wisconsin,) it grows in extensive "cedar swamps" 
and mingled a little with spruce, larch and Balsam fir, sometimes so 
thickly as to be almost impassible, reaching the height of 60 to 100 feet, 
and sometimes three feet in diameter. From these native swamps vast 
quantities offence posts and telegraph poles are shipped every year. 

This county (Door) alone Avill furnish Chicago market at least 
1,000,000 fence posts, besides a very large quantity of telegraph poles, 
during the shipping season of 1869. 

Arbor vit» is a m5derate grower, makes an excellent hedge or wind 
brake, grows well on any kind of soil, is hardy and easily transplanted-^ 
bears the sheers well; I have seen them in yards cut to egg shape, a sue- 



I 



48 THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND ETERGKEEJfR. 



cession of globes and various fantastic forms. 

This tree is rapidly propagated from cuttings planted in frames 
early in autumn and protected from frost in winter. In making cuttings 
it is best to take the young wood with a small portion of the old wood 
attached. The soil in which they are planted should be at least one-half 
sand or sandy loam, and the remainder a good, well decomposed leaf 
mould, or other old and rich soil. If planted in September or early Octo- 
ber, they will usually be rooted by the lirst of May following, even when 
no glass is used for coverings. They should be shaded i'vom the direct 
rays of the sun until winter ; and then covered sufficiently to keep out 
Irost, and they are ready to transplant the next spring. The seeds ripen 
in the fall and should be gathered immediately after the frost is out of 
the catkins, and should be kept cool and moist until the following spring, 
when they may be planted in beds. 

Red Cedar (or Savin.) 

Mr. Lapham says of it: 

The red cedar wood is well known as one of the mo^st durable. It 
i.s laid down in the books, that the tree is one of the slowest in growth. 
This statement may be true in the eastern states, or generally ; but is far 
from true in Wisconsin. Trees may be seen in Madison, and other towns 
of the state, which were taken from the banks of the lakes, twelve or fif- 
teen years ago, and which at that time were not more than three feet 
high, and an inch in diameter, and planted in the yellow and richer soil, 
where the hickory and blackjack oaks flourished, and which are now fif- 
teen feet high, and ten to twelve inches in diameter. In fact, they have 
grown about as fast as the sugar maples and white oaks, in the same sit- 
uation. In the city of Janesville and its vicinity, trees may be seen, 
Avhich in fourteen or fifteen years from seeds havft grown into trees twelve 
inches in diameter at the butt, and twenty-five feet high, even out-grow- 
ing the Scotch pine which stands near them. 

We have no tree which will endure as great changes in climate, wet 
and dry, hot and cold, as the red cedar. It will find its root-hold on the 
ridges and cliffs of rocks, and is the first tree one meets as he ap-i 
proaches the Rocky mountains, after crossing the treeless plains, where 
it stands on the dry hill side, or hangs in the cliffs of the rocks, where 
scarcely any other vegetation is found ; and it may be found in the wet 
sands of the islands of the Wisconsin river and other streams. It is one 
of the densest of our evergreens, and is the very best tree to oppose to 
the full blasts of the storms and winds of both summer and winter, in the 
most exposed situations. For posts to set in the ground there is no tree 
which lasts so long; and even if it do take years to grow it lo sufficient 
size for posts, it wdl last until another tree may be grown, if the seed be^ 
planted when the post is set. 

It may be propogated froni cuttings under glass; but tlie safest way 
is to make use of seeds. These may be gathered in autumn, and mixed, 
with muck or leaf mould and placed in the open ground until they germi- 
nate, which often takes two years. Some bruise the berries so as to 
break the resinous coverings and then the seeds come up the first year. 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AXD EVERCREENS. 49 



PINE — NORWAY PINE — (itKD PINE.) 

This spoeies of pine o;ro\vs sotnctinu'S very larije, tall, straiglit and 
stnooth, sometimes reacliinj^ nearly 100 feet in height, witliout a branch. 

My brother has prc^pared for shii)ping to ChicaLro market, 400 city 
telegraph poles, of Norway pine, 55 feet long, 12 inches at butt and 8 to 
10 at top, many of them as straight and true as if they hail been turned. 
Next to the white pine this is the most desirable species of pine. It is <juito 
difficult to transplant because of its having so few fibrous roots. Trans-" 
planting it should never be attem|)ted, exce[)t with very small plants. 
"As an ornamental tree its dark green ft)liage and long leaves make it 
rank above the Austrian pine, which it much resembles, and excels in 
growth." 

WHITE PINE. 

This is the largest and tallest of all our native trees, sometimes at- 
taining a size of 4 to 6 feet diameter and raising IGO feet, and almost per- 
fectly straight, one-half of which is clear of limbs. I have seen spars cut 
from our forests here 95 feet long and worked as stiaight as a line, 20. 
inches square at top, and 3 feet diameter at base. No other tree yields 
such invaluable lumber which in the large trees is nearly free from resin ; 
it is the easiest and smoothest timber to Avork under the plane we have; 
yet in durability it vies with the oak. When growing in the openings it 
is a beautiful dense cone topped tree, well adapted for screens and wind- 
breaks. When massed thickly for timber belts at the rate of 600 to 800 
trees to the acre, it mounts upward with the most rapid growers. 

The white pine is not so diffi uilt to transplant as the Norway — both 
these varieties grow very rapidly, keeping pace with most deci iuous trees, 
to which they are good neighbors. The pine cone opens in early winter 
and drops its seeds; they should be kept cool until the following spring 
and planted. 

HEMLOCK — (weeping SPRUCE.) 

This is a large tree, and most graceful of all the spruce family, al- 
most rivaling the pine, when all its parts are considered. The bark is 
the most valuable material for tanning we have, and is the main depend- 
ence of the tanners. The timber is coarse-grained, holding nails remark- 
ably well, and of first quality for scantlings, joiee and building timber. 
Immense quantities of the smaller trees are hewn into railroad ties. It 
will grow very thickly on good soil 1500 trees to the acre, and prefers a 
light, dry, sandy or rocky soil. There is no difficulty in growing it on 
any soil except on a heavy clayey soil where it is liable to winter-kill. Its 
rapidity of growth nearly equals the pine. It makes the most beautilul 
and dense hedge or vv'ind-break of any thing we have. 

This is really the most beautiful native evergreen we possess ; and 
great quantities should be grown in all parts of the prairie country. 

These great families of trees, (pines and hemlock) have played a 
very important part in the economy and advancement of the country. 
We are apt to overlook the chief value of these trees, and their timber 
in planting forests or shades, because they do not hold out such great pe- 
cuniary advantages in so short a time as do some others. Althoucrh they 
grow as rapidly and their wood is as valuable, yet it takes longer for it to 



60 TUK CULTURE OF TOUEST TREES AND EVERGREENS. 

attain the greatest value in a single tree. Other trees are cut when 
small — so are some of these, — hemlock for instance for railroad ties, but 
the best are chiefly used for boards and plank, timber and shingles, re- 
quire large trees grown in shaded situations, so as to be free from knots 
and crooks, and have a good length of trunk. 

The evergreen forests of Wisconsin have been and still are more 
valuable than placers of gold in the gulches of the Rocky mountains, if 
we simply count the dollars which the himbermea have extracted from 
them by the aid of toil and machinery. 

The pines of this State have contributed materially to build cottages 
and palaces, not only in this State, but in all the States washed by the 
Mississippi and Lake Michigan. Scarcely a dwelling, church, school- 
house, public or private building can be found, to Avhich they have not 
contributed niore or less. The plentifulness of the timber has liitherto 
kept down the price, and it has not been appreciated. Great forests 
have been robbed of their best trees, for the sake of a single log, or a few 
shingle-bolts; other trees and forests have been wantonly destroyed. 
The young trees, designed by Providence to replace the old, have been 
ruthlessly cut away to make a place for an experiment in growing corn on 
sands so destitute of vegetable matter, that corn could not grow, until 
the pines had for .ages more shed their needle-shaped leaves on ihe barren 
surfiice. 

It woiild seem as if the woodman, axe in hand, had found himself in 
the midst of the dense evergreen forest, and forgetting all of earth be- 
side, and because his visions was bounded by the trunks and branches of 
large trees, he believed all the world was pine; and that fate had placed 
him there to hew out an opening, and let in the light of the sun ; that the 
quantity and extent were what they appeared to his limited vision — in- 
finitely large and therefore inexhaustable. His vision could not extend 
iust over the tree tops, within the day's flight of the pigeon, where was 
spread out a region far greater than his forest, on which no tree rears its 
head, and where all and more than all, the trees which surround him, are 
wanted for its use. 

The time lias already arrived when we begin to feel that there is a 
scarcity of pine timber; where it was but a few years ago, sold for ^10 
for a 1,000 feet, it now readily brings thrice its former prices, with no 
prospect of being any cheaper. 

This increase is not owing to a scarcity of labor, as some tell us, or 
to an increase of currency, as others say. Although these causes may 
have some efiect at present, yet it is mainly owing to the difficulty in get- 
ting the trees from which the lumber is made, which has raised the price. 
In a few years more, if lumber continues to advance, and there is no 
reason why it should not, it will be beyond the reach of the poor, or even 
the middle classes, and these must resort to other materials from which 
to construct their abodes ; and as in Europe with no intermediate mate- 
rial between mud and stone walls, the rich will live in this, the poor in 
that. 

The rapid strides which we have made in advancement, may be at- 
tributed as much to the cheap pine lumber as to the enterprise and intel- 
ligence of the people expended upon the prolific soil of the State. This 



THE CULTURE OF FOREST TREES AND EVERGREENS 61 

cheap lumber has built our houses and our barns, our stores and fences, 
and given to the people their long stride in the race of nations. But 
while those trees have been destroyed to build a State, no efforts are 
made to replace them with others; on the contrary, if the young trees are 
not broken down and killed, the fire is allowed to run over the land and 
complete the devastation man had commenced ; whereas, if they had re- 
ceived proper care and attention, the forests of evergreens now cut down 
and gone, would in 40 or 50 years have been replaced with another nearly 
equal to the first. 

If in planting belts and groves of trees for timber, shelter or pro- 
tection from winds, a free use were made of such evergreens as would 
thrive on the soil occupied, they would grow all the better for admixture ; 
and within a lifetime, the pines would become saw logs, and the cedars 
split into fence. posts. Retaining their foliage during winter, they afford 
protection at a time when it is most needed. A belt of these surround- 
ing a farm, mingled with others, or alone, or at least such portions as con- 
tains the buildings, orchard and garden, gives a cheerful, comfortable ap- 
pearance to the place; and both man and beast will live longer and be 
more comfortable and happy than when exposed to every gale of winter, 
when tor more than six months of the year nothing appears life like — 
nothing to break the force oi the blast as it comes over drifting snows. 
If they take room, and shade the ground, they shelter while they live, and 
pay a large rent in timber when they die. Cherish them as good frien<ls. 






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